My mom got a facelift after divorce ruined her self-esteem… but never woke up from surgery. Her chilling last words will haunt me forever
After going through a bad divorce in 2010, Carol Bremer decided to undergo a facelift in an attempt to feel better about herself.
Little did she know the common procedure would lead to the end of her life.
Her daughter, Alexis Bremer, 31, has laid bare the horrifying ordeal with the Daily Mail, while detailing her heartbreak over losing her mom to what she claims is medical malpractice.
Bremer, from Denver, Colorado, explained that her mom underwent the surgery in 2010 and used a ‘very reputable doctor in the Los Angeles area.’
However, she claimed that she suffered from ‘complications during the procedure’ and had to be placed into a medically-induced coma afterwards.
‘It was really just for them to kind of like watch her afterwards,’ Bremer recalled of their decision to put her mom in a coma.
But according to Bremer, ‘a mistake was made’ while Carol was unconscious that led to her death.
While Bremer said she can’t discuss the details of what exactly happened because there was a lawsuit and settlement following, she told the Daily Mail that ‘something went wrong due to human error.’
Alexis Bremer poses with her mom, Carol, before her shocking passing. Carol died after undergoing a facelift
‘When you go in for an elective surgery, there is always a very small risk that something can happen,’ Bremer explained.
‘But my mom did everything right. She was incredibly healthy, she did a pre-check, she interviewed, I think, ten surgeons before she chose a surgeon.’
Bremer was only 15 and at summer camp at the time, and she recalled the camp director approaching her during a group fire and asking her to come with him.
‘There was a long staircase leading away from the fire, and I remember looking back at everyone singing and just feeling so incredibly happy,’ she remembered.
However, once she got to the assistant director’s cottage and saw her father and brother waiting for her, she knew immediately that something was wrong.
‘My brother’s eyes were red, and my dad had this specific look in his eyes,’ she recalled.
Her dad then broke the news that her mom had been put into a coma.
‘The shock held me until we reached the ICU. I remember walking in and hearing the beeping machines and seeing all the monitors,’ Bremer continued.
Bremer, 31, recently. She laid bare the horrifying ordeal with the Daily Mail, while detailing her heartbreak over losing her mom to what she claims is medical malpractice
Bremer, her mom and brother in an old photo
Bremer shares a laugh with her mom before her passing. While Bremer said can’t discuss the details of what exactly went wrong because there was a lawsuit and settlement following, she told the Daily Mail that ‘something went wrong due to human error’
‘Everything felt overwhelmingly loud. My mom was swollen and hooked up to so many machines.’
For weeks afterward, the then-teen refused to believe her mom would not recover, or that they wouldn’t be able to do all the things they had planned to do together.
‘I spent hours studying for my learner’s driving permit in those waiting rooms because my mom had promised to take me to get it after her surgery,’ she said.
‘The adults knew she wasn’t going to wake up, but at 15, I refused to believe them.’
Bremer said that her mom had wanted to get a facelift after she and her dad divorced, noting it had been particularly rough on her.
‘During the last year of her life, she became noticeably quiet and sad,’ she reflected. ‘She became increasingly consumed by the way she looked rather than all the incredible things she had done.
‘The last thing my mom ever said to me before I left for camp was, “Next time you see me, I’ll be pretty.”‘
The 31-year-old said that resonates with her as an adult, as she recently went through a breakup and became obsessed with getting the perfect ‘revenge look.’
‘I think when you go through a breakup or a divorce, you just don’t really feel that great about yourself,’ Bremer reflected.
Bremer poses with her late mom and brother. She was only 15 and at summer camp when her mom was placed in a medically induced coma. She died soon after
Bremer’s mom Carol flashes a smile in a photo from when she was young
‘You feel like you have to pull together this revenge body and look better, and I know that’s what sparked my mom wanting to do it.’
Bremer recently decided to start sharing her mom’s story online after spending years refusing to talk about it.
And she now hopes that she can end the ‘stigma’ surrounding the situation.
‘It kind of has this like stigma to it, of like, “Oh, my mom in LA died from a facelift,” and it feels kind of embarrassing,’ she admitted.
While Bremer admitted that she struggles with feeling insecure sometimes, she said she is determined to look past it and wants to encourage other women to do the same.
‘I wish I could tell my mom that how you look does not determine how hard your life will be. We are so much more than our reflections,’ she concluded.
