Maureen Branigan and her mother, Debbie Branigan, were best friends back in January 2021. After spending time watching TV, Debbie decided to go back home, just three blocks away. Maureen later texted her mother a joke, which read: "Did u make it home alive lol." Tragically, her mother had, in fact, died of cardiac arrest.
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Maureen Branigan, who talked to PEOPLE about her mother's death, suspected something was terribly wrong. "I didn't think twice when she didn't reply," she told the outlet. "It wasn't uncommon for her to just go home, go to bed, and then FaceTime me in the morning to make our plans for the day. We spent every day together."
Later, Maureen's fiancé was walking the dog when he saw Debbie's car outside their home. To his horror, he found Debbie inside, unconscious. An ambulance was there, too, and Maureen's suspicions regrettably became a reality.
"Immediately, I called my dad, who was at home. I told him he had to get here, and fast," Maureen said. "At this point, we still had no idea what was going on. The medics couldn't tell us anything, and we were stuck in limbo."
She's Gone
Maureen's dad joined Maureen and her fiancé and immediately jumped into their vehicle and followed the ambulance to the hospital. For them, however, the reality of the situation started to settle in, and both, somehow, knew that Debbie had suffered a terrible fate.
Doctors later confirmed that Debbie Branigan tragically died from cardiac arrest. She was just 52 years old. Devastated, Maureen said goodbye to the woman who not only gave birth to her but also was her best friend.
"Without fail, she was always in my corner," Maureen said. "The best way I can describe her is that she wasn't afraid of anything or anyone."
She also shared her dynamic, recalling how they used to joke with each other, similar to her last text sent to Debbie. "When I sent that text, never in my wildest imagination would I have thought it would result in her dying," Maureen said. "Honestly, it wasn't the first time I had texted her something along those lines, and it wasn't the first time she had texted me like that, either. We morbidly joked pretty often."
For her, her final text to her mother "captured a glimpse of our sense of humor."
Maureen Branigan would later share her story on TikTok. To her surprise, the video garnered more than 742,000 views, becoming viral. She was surprised by the amount of comments sharing their experiences, showing how many related to her story.
Year after her mother's passing, Maureen still feels a deep connection with her late mother. "Some days I cry, and other days I gossip to her as if she can still hear me and answer back," she said. "I miss her in every moment of every day — the big and the small."
