– When I saw who had died in the avalanche, the tears just came out, says Gjertrud Grimsbo.
She knows the family well, and knows what her close friend Mona Brattli has been through in recent years.
In 2020, Brattli lost one twin daughter, Kine, in a drowning accident. On Monday, she also lost her daughter Kaja, Kine’s twin sister, in the avalanche.
Kaja (26) died in an avalanche accident
Brattli has given permission for her friend to tell her story.
– I really want to help her, she is so broken. I don’t think I want to see a more broken person, says Grimsbo.
– I have given many teddy bear hugs in my life, but the way I hugged her yesterday – I have never given a hug like that before.
Raised over 125,000
The mother of twins is described as a warm firebrand in the local community in Bardu. Brattli works with disadvantaged young people, and has been a foster mother to several children, in addition to having four of her own.
– If you’re going to trust anyone, it’s her. She has helped so many, now it’s her turn to get help. She never asks for anything, says the friend.
Grimsbo created a Splice Thursday evening. It will not bring the twins back, but can be a bright spot in an otherwise very dark time, she says.
The sister: – We were soul mates
– I know what it costs to bury someone in this country. It is not just grief that you have to go through, but also worries about bills, work and the fact that you are not able to work.
On Sunday, more than NOK 125,000 was collected for the splice, and condolences and statements of support for the mother are pouring in.
Grimsbo says that her friend is very down, but that she greatly appreciates everything, and that it is good for her to read so many nice messages.
– I think people have sympathy for her, and understand that it must be absolutely horrible. What are the odds of something like that happening? But when that happens, you have to call people.
Bathe at eleven
It was in the summer of 2020, during an evening bath in the heat of Salangselva in Troms, that things first went horribly wrong.
The then 22-year-old twins Kine and Kaja Brattli Gundersen sat together on a large floating animal in the river, designed like a unicorn.
Suddenly the river went from calm to raging, and they lost control. The sisters were swept away by strong currents and lost each other. Kaja eventually got ashore and notified the police. Kine was later found lifeless below Kistefossen, which has a drop of 13 metres.
ACCIDENT: Kine Brattli Gundersen died in a drowning accident in the summer of 2020. Photo: Private Show more
Kaja was very down after the accident, and told Dagbladet later that summer that it had not dawned on her what had happened.
– We were soul mates, and there is a special bond you have. I was very dependent on Kine, and looked up to her very much. I always saw her a bit like an older sister, quite simply. Someone to go to for advice and help, and who could push me that little bit extra. It is difficult to explain in words that bond there, she said.
Mora also took the fact that Kine was gone very hard.
– She wasn’t really ready to go back to work the following year, but you are forced back a bit before you are ready, because of the sick leave scheme. Kaja was also devastated by grief, they were so close, says her friend Grimsbo.
It was a shock to family and friends. Grimsbo says that the mother had such a relationship with the girls where she was both a determined mother, but also their best friend. They borrowed clothes from each other and talked about everything.
She held on to Kaja, who became her rock in grief. But almost four years later she was to lose her too.
– The last thing that should happen
On Monday this week there was an avalanche in Finnvikdalen on Kvaløya in Troms. A person and a dog had been taken by the avalanche and had died.
Mona Brattli was sitting at home knitting when the phone rang. Kaja had been out for a walk with the dog Atlas and had not returned home to the apartment in Tromsø.
A few hours later the message came: Kaja Brattli Gundersen (26) had been taken by the avalanche.
– They hadn’t even recovered, then it hits the family again. It won’t work, it can hardly get worse, says Grimsbo.
TWINS: Sisters Kine (left) and Kaja Brattli Gundersen. Photo: Private Show more
Kaja loved to bake. Now there are buns in the mother’s freezer that she doesn’t know what to do with.
– “That was the last thing that should happen”, Mona told me yesterday. There are some who just get everything, says Grimsbo.
– They were the world’s best friends and daughters, then they just disappear one by one. That a family should be hit so hard twice is both unimaginable and incomprehensible to those of us who have not experienced this. It is impossible to manage to understand how it feels.
2024-01-28 09:00:17
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