I was born a Darwin girl, though only by circumstance as my parents (Tim & Lata Marsh) were moving from a posting on Groote Eylandt to Tennant Creek, Northern Territory (my father was an NT Police Officer), and I was luckily born enroute (30 April 1991).

My first couple of years of life were spent in Tennant Creek, a place that has a pretty rough reputation and probably not on many peoples bucket list to visit.  I'm told that I spent those couple of years only seeing the world through a flynet everytime we left the house, as the flies were thick and conjunctivitis was plentiful from the aboriginal settlements that ringed the town.

We next moved north to Katherine and my sister Celeste was born also in Darwin (Aug 1993) during this transfer activity.  We were only in Katherine for maybe 9mths and my Dad transferred again, this time to Darwin.  It was then only another 8mths and my baby sister Tayla was born (Dec 1994).

Darwin was our life for the next 8yrs, where we lived for a year or two in Malak and then moved to our own home in Rapid Creek (Sprigg St.), just behind the shops there.  Our 2-storey tree house (with fireman's pole) was in the big tree beside our driveway, which faced the rear exit from these shops.

Over these 8 years, I dabbled in modelling kids clothes, usually at Casuarina Shopping Centre (where Celeste as a 2-3y/o and typically for that stage of her life, stripped off all her clothes and did some of her own modelling).  I also started Calisthenics and went on to represent the Northern Territory when a little older.  I also started school as a 4yo at the Essington School (a Montessori school), as I was apparently bored at home and then moved across to the Holy Spirit Catholic Primary school when I was due to begin regular school.

I was also big into my Basketball as we girls spent a lot of time at the Stadium when Mum played in the league competition.  This time at the stadium morphed into me starting to play in the kids competitions, prepping me for a later basketball school career that spanned until high school grad.

My sister's joined me at Holy Spirit and our highlight was after-school care where Mum worked - it was games and fun for a couple of hours with various friends, before we all went home.  Sometimes Dad picked us up early and we would all climb into the back of one of his work cars, a Toyota Landcruiser Troop Carrier, which had bench seats in the back, only lap belts and sliding windows that we would open and lean out.

We also had pet dogs while at our Rapid Creek home - Missy and Toto.  They used to escape regularly, which didn't endear them to Dad.

At the end of 2001, another work change for Dad (going from Policing to Oil Rigs) meant that a decision was made that we would move to Buderim on the Sunshine Coast in Qld at the beginning of Jan.  We moved to our new family home in Possumwood Plc Buderim and we all started at the Stella Maris Primary School Maroochydore in late Jan. 2002.  I was in Grade 5, Celeste in Grade 3 and Tayla in Grade 2.

Life was blissful on the Sunshine Coast.  In Year 6 (a senior at Stella Maris), I was one of the School Captains, I was playing local league Basketball for Maroochydore and in the team above my age group.  I also represented Queensland at the National School age Basketball championships.  Life was good.

It was in the final throes of my senior year at Primary school, living life with a full schedule of school, friends and basketball, that my Dad decided that we would all move to live in Bangkok, Thailand due to another job role change.  To say I was unimpressed would be the understatement of the Century.  I chucked the wobbly of all wobblys and the only thing that got me on a plane was a negotiated agreement that I could fly back to play a particular basketball tournament.  I still wasn't happy but I would have been dragged onto the plane, so best to pick my battles.

So, off we went in October 2003, landing in Bangkok, where we lived for the next 4 years.  Despite my rough beginning, it became a home away from home and I loved it.  We lived in a huge walled in Expat suburb called Nichada Thani - a compound the had the International School of Bangkok (ISB) right in the middle, surround by over a thousand houses and apartments, housing expatriate families whose parents worked in Thailand and whose kids went to ISB.  It was a lifestyle where we had a maid who spoiled us, a driver who took us into Bangkok city to go shopping and a freedom to roam at will all over the compound (only two entry/exits into the compound and guards at those gates and all the sub-estates within).  As we got older, we also ventured with friends outside the gates to visit our favourite nail salons, hairdressers and massage shops, with everything just costing a few Baht.  Bangkok remained a pivotal part of my life, and a place I considered a home, even after we had left.

When I was in Middle School from arrival (Yr. 7 & 8), I started my sports almost straight away and was back into basketball and volleyball, playing against other International Schools in Bangkok.  When. I got to Highschool (as a Junior in Yr9), I tried out for the Schools Varsity teams for both Volleyball and Basketball and made both teams as a Junior.  The American Schools are big on their Highschool sport and the Varsity teams are their 'elite' athlete programs, where kids usually get picked up for scholarships to US Colleges (Uni's). 

I competed at the Varsity level and was a starter for my junior and Sophomore years for ISB, travelling all over South East Asia for the twice a season competitions against other American schools in the region (Malaysia / Taiwan / Singapore / Phillipines & Indonesia, with additionally a big Thanksgiving weekend Basketball Tournament every year also in Hong Kong).  ISB's arch rival's were the Singapore American School, probably because we both had pretty high win rates and not much separated us in the competitions.

I was just finishing Year 10 and as seemed to be a common theme in our lives, Dad told us we were now moving to Singapore (another role change).  If you thought I was unhappy about leaving the Sunshine Coast 4yrs earlier, then I equalled or exceeded by unhappiness level when told we were moving to our arch enemies school.

As to be expected, it all turned out great - I had a fantastic last two years of High School at SAS, continuing my Varsity sports passion, becoming Captain of both our basketball and volleyball teams, also being fortunate to play with Celeste (our combination on court commonly referred to and placarded as from the bleachers as 'Marsh Madness').  School was a joy, a place I excelled and made lifelong friends.

Following graduation from SAS, I was accepted into a Double Degree program of Law and International Relations at the Griffith University at Southport on the Gold Coast.  I spent 5 years in this program and over that time formed deep friendships with a handful of classmates who became my 'Law Krew'.  It was an enduring set of dear friendships with them and their families that was as strong or stronger in my final days, as it was in the beginning.

I was also supremely fortunate to have formed deep friendships with a select handful of individuals from my part-time jobs over that Uni period (my hospitality years:) and post Uni when I was practicing Law - my nearest and dearest friends should all still feel my embrace and love from afar.

It goes without saying that my closest 'nearest and dearest ' were my family, with my two little sisters always a constant fixture in my life.

After Uni and out in the real world, I made my life on the Gold Coast and led a very active social life - spending time with my friends from all the circles I moved in, plus celebrating with them on the slightest excuse - life was good.

In 2017, I married in Thailand at a big destination wedding (to Marc Howard, whom I later separated from).

The next installments of my life were ones of pure joy and fulfillment, with the arrival of my two babies, Harper blessing me with her arrival in Dec 2019, and then two years later, after some complications, Pax similarly blessing me with his arrival.  They were both such beautiful babies (though Pax did look like a mini shrivelled up old man barely more than 1kg at birth) and gave me endless joy to hold them, kiss them, hug them and talk to them.  They were my life and I was so fortunate to have the time with them that I did.

Harper was just 3yo and Pax 1yo, when I had Celeste take me to the Hospital one evening suffering extreme abdominal pains (the day after ANZAC Day 2023).  It was a fateful night - with scans revealing a cancerous tumour enveloping my lower intestine.  The Doctor on duty had to tell me that I had what appeared to be advanced Bowel Cancer - I remember feeling so sorry for them as I could see the distress in their face.  I tried to remain stoic in the face of this news but my family were inconsolable.

Optimism was the only pathway I could take and all my family and my friends rallied around me, showering me with love and support, with a poor prognosis (Stage 4) giving me the drive to make the most of what time I would be blessed with to make memories with my babies, to hold on for as long as I could, so they would take a little piece of me forward forever in their lives and memories.

Despite a couple of rounds of debilitating Chemotherapy and initially good results, the cancer beast always reemerged, though my focus was intently on staying positive and doing whatever I had to, to sustain me and to hold, cuddle, talk and laugh with my babies Harper and Pax.

Our plans for a big 2023 Marsh family Christmas on Uncle Kev and Aunty Sandi's farm in country Victoria went out the window and we rolled into 2024 as a year of treatment and hope.

Our 2024 Christmas at our family home in Mudjimba (Sunshine Coast) was spectacular, even if I couldn't over indulge in my favourite foods.  It was a special Xmas with the kids and the family.

Little did any of us know that in a matter of weeks, our world would come crashing down.  I was not well and experiencing abdominal pain to a point where in the first week of Jan (2025), I admitted myself to Pindara Hospital (Gold Coast).

On the 22nd Jan (2025), I was told by my Dr. that my bowel had perforated, that there was nothing that could be done and I was likely to leave this world within the next few days.  The devastation wreaked on my family and friends was immense and I was consumed by making sure all was in order for my children - I wasn't ready.  My time with Pax and Harper at my bedside was just not enough and maintaining my joy in their presence and positivity for them was heartbreaking - how can you say goodbye to your 5yo daughter and 3yo son.

I left this world on the morning of Friday the 24th January 2025, in the presence of my Mum & Dad and Sisters.  I did so peacefully and in the full knowledge that they would all keep me alive in their hearts and in the lives and memories of my precious babies, Harper and Pax.  

I Was Here.  I Lived & I Loved.