RUTLAND — Ciara Sullivan, the 30-year-old wife of Rutland firefighter, Patrick Sullivan, and her nearly two-week-old twins, passed away after they were taken off of life support on Friday.
According to a post Patrick Sullivan made on Facebook, on Dec. 16, 2024, Ciara experienced a “medical emergency” and was intubated at University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.
“I can’t explain the total and utter devastation, anger, rage, and loss I feel that this unnecessary tragedy has brought me,” Patrick Sullivan said in a Facebook post. “What I can explain is how truly blessed I am to have the outpouring of support from my community, my brothers, my family, and the hospital staff. The NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] and SICU [Surgical Intensive Care Unit] nurses and doctors made this nightmare a little more bearable.”
Their twins were delivered prematurely via emergency C-section and were placed on ventilators, with a “grim prognosis” the Rutland Regional Emergency Communication Center said in a Facebook post.
In addition to an outpouring of support for the Sullivan family on Facebook, a fundraiser, organized by the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts Charitable Trust on behalf of the Sullivan family, has raised $101,804 as of Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024.
On the evening of Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, a vigil was held in support of the family on the Rutland Town Common.
According to the Rutland Regional Emergency Communication Center, Patrick Sullivan has been a dispatch supervisor and firefighter/EMT for the Town of Rutland for 13 years.
Donations can be made to the family’s fundraiser here.
