mobanmarketMOKENA, IL — For eight months, Jacquie Hamblin’s family held out hope, watching as the beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, cousin and friend fought with everything she had to prove her doctors wrong.
Before the Mokena native and 2002 Lincoln-Way East graduate suffered massive multiple strokes last fall, Hamblin had shown no signs of any health issues or any struggles that prevented her from living life on her terms. An active Orangetheory Fitness addict and avid weekend hiker, Hamblin was the picture of health throughout her life before everything tragically turned on Oct. 28, 2022, when she sustained the strokes hours after returning home from a business trip in Nashville at the age of 38.
Since then, Hamblin — the mother of two who had only been married for six weeks when she had the health emergency — had remained in a coma at a University of Utah Medical Center rehabilitation center. Despite her doctors not giving her much of a chance of survival, Hamblin continued to fight. But just one day after turning 39 on July 1, Hamblin died — but not before giving the life she loved so much, along with everyone who loved her back, everything she had.
Find out what's happening in Mokenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“She’s a fighter — that kid’s a fighter,” Hamblin’s cousin, Sarah Hintze, told Patch on Thursday. “She grew up in a fightin’ family, and they don’t give up and they live life.”
And live life Hamblin did —even under the most difficult of situations.
Find out what's happening in Mokenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
With her husband, Zach, by her side, Hamblin had displayed signs that she was never far away despite being in a coma. Despite her doctors’ dire prognosis for her, Hamblin had begun opening her eyes and communicating with Zach by blinking her eyes and squeezing his hand. When Zach would tell Jacquie he had to leave, she would respond by puckering her lips for a goodbye kiss.
Despite being newlyweds, Zach and Jacquie remained by each other’s side, displaying a love that was evident even from a distance. While many relatives only were able to track the couple’s journey through updates provided by Jacquie’s sister, others — Hintze included — got to witness the couple’s devotion to one another first-hand.
Click Here: gaa jerseys for sale
“Zach showed her what true love is, and Jacquie deserves every second she got with him,” Hintze said.
When Hamblin’s sister, Christina, would visit from Illinois and give her a pedicure, Hamblin would kick her feet — a physical sign to her loved ones that she was still with them. This all came after doctors told Hamblin’s mother, Judy Rathert, and Zach that Hamblin likely wouldn’t pull out of the coma and that she wasn’t showing signs of brain activity.
But that’s when Hamblin would go to work, refusing to give up, before her family says Jacquie’s body just got worn down from being sick and from health issues that arose from complications of the stroke.
“She fought, and she fought hard,” Hintze, Jacquie’s cousin, told Patch. “That’s how Jacquie is.
She added: “It was just so Jacquie. We knew she would put up a fight. We knew it, and that’s why we were so shocked when we got the call (about Hamblin’s passing). We were all like, ‘This isn’t how this story ends.’”
A GoFundMe was established by Christina Bumba, Jacquie’s sister, to help the family cover medical costs. As she continued to show signs of progress, family members organized a fundraiser at The Post Game Pub and Sedona Grille in Mokena, where Judy, Christina, Jacquie, and Sarah Hintze had all worked as bartenders. The goal was to raise enough money that would allow the family to move Hamblin back to her home in Utah, where they hoped that she would continue to move closer to possibly coming out of her coma.
But this week, organizers of the July 23 event in Mokena would instead be a celebration of Hamblin’s life after her death on Sunday. Money raised at the event will go to cover medical costs associated with Hamblin’s care in Utah. Any remaining funds will go to establish a trust for Hamblin’s two children, who will now go on without their mother.
The event will be hosted by The Post Game, where co-owners Maureen (“Mo”) and Conrad Coultas, opened the local bar and restaurant in 2002. Over the years, the establishment built a long-standing relationship with the family, which made it the perfect location for the upcoming fundraiser and celebration of Hamblin’s life. Along with Judy and her two daughters, the extended family became mainstays at the Post Game, where customers often mistakenly referred to Hintze as “Denise,” rather than understanding she was “Da Niece” of Judy — who had started at the establishment as a bartender while working her way through school to become a nurse.
“I wish we could have cloned the entire family,” Mo Wall-Coultas told Patch. “They just had a great work ethic and are just wonderful people.”
Hintze describes her cousin as a “triple-threat of a human being” who displays stunning beauty, intelligence and a loving personality, and who also possessed an infectious laugh that was impossible to miss. Sarah describes the extended family as “Ohana” — the Hawaiian word for a family where no one gets left behind.
And now, after a long fight and her recent passing, Hamblin’s family is making certain that their beloved family member’s memory is never forgotten.
“She lived life to the absolute fullest,” Hintze told Patch. “You always knew with Jacquie you were going to have a great time and that by the end of it, you were going to get a hug.”
“That’s just how Jacquie is.”
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.