Her 23-year-old creative and artistic daughter was shot dead by the 15-year-old girl she was babysitting.

From that unspeakable act – made all the more incomprehensible because it had been committed by a church pastor's adopted daughter – a brilliantly touching mission of hope has sprung that is now reaching out to touch more lives in a positive way.

It is a remarkable story of taking a seemingly senseless tragedy and from it finding meaning and purpose.

Twelve years on from the tragedy, Bermudian Valerie Cox-Vermont is now able to move forward with her life both literally and physically.

Over so many years it looked as though that might never happen.

In an internalised reaction to the stress and grief caused by the violent death of her beloved daughter Latanya, Mrs. Cox-Vermont's kidneys shut down, flooding her body with toxins.

She lived for a decade without functioning kidneys, undergoing almost daily hospital dialysis treatment to stay alive.

Then, just when it seemed her own life was fading away, something remarkable happened.

Her daughter Tasha, a younger sister of Latanya, took a test without her ailing mother knowing and discovered she was a suitable match to be a kidney donor.

Having lost one daughter already, Mrs Cox-Vermont did not want to put any of her other children at risk but found it impossible to overcome Tasha's determination to return the gift of life to her own mother.

Three years on from the transplant operation, Tasha is a healthy 30-year-old, while Mrs. Cox-Vermont is able to live a normal life again, travelling where and when she pleases without having to visit a hospital to hook up with a dialysis machine.

But the story doesn't end there.

Mrs. Cox-Vermont has discovered a mission from all that has happened and is now actively working to create a support network for people who wish to do as her daughter Tasha did — and give the gift of life through donating a kidney.

A kidney donor can expect to be unable to work for up to six weeks after an operation.

The Divine Journey incorporation created by Mrs. Cox-Vermont is looking to fill that gap by offering financial and physical support needed to allow a donor to make such a major sacrifice to help another.

Mrs. Cox-Vermont is a former student at Prospect Secondary School for Girls and moved to Colorado where she created a chain of beauty salons called 'Bermuda Connection.

In Denver her family became close friends with their church pastor neighbour Reverend Madlyn Tombs and her 15-year-old adopted daughter Jennifer.

The neighbours were said to be as close as family and it was natural enough that one day Mrs. Cox-Vermont's daughter Latanya Lavallais would be asked to babysit the 15-year old Jennifer Tombs.

But on September 27, 1996, teenager Tombs wanted to have a house party and decided to shoot her babysitter. Latanya, who had Bermudian status, was shot seven times.

Murderer Tombs then went upstairs to casually hold the house party she had been forbidden from having. In a subsequent court case Tombs was found guilty and is now serving life imprisonment without parole.

The trauma had a profound effect on Mrs. Cox-Vermont and her kidneys failed.

"I did not have diabetes or high blood pressure. It was just the stress," she said.

After 10 years on regular dialysis treatment both her arms were no longer able to support the invasive treatments and she needed to have the dialysis machine hooked directly into her chest.

It was then her daughter Tasha intervened and insisted on providing a kidney.

Previously another donor had been found, but as that donor was a Caucasian the enzymes that came with the kidney would be incompatible with Mrs. Cox-Vermont.

Today, visiting Delores Glasford, her closest friend in Bermuda, Mrs. Cox-Vermont said: "At the time I had mixed emotions. I knew my faith was strong and I felt blessed and honoured that Tasha wanted to do this because it was not a simple thing to do.

"It has given me a lot of freedom."

She went on: "My daughter and I speak around Colorado (about kidney donorship). God said 'that's good, but you have to do more than that.'

"We can all use out mouths but you've got to do something about it."

That something for Mrs. Cox-Vermont has been setting up the Divine Journey Foundation to offer the support needed for donors during the six-week recuperation period after they have given a kidney.

"Say you are a single parent with kids – you can't afford to stop work because you have bills to pay."

The foundation intends to see to those needs; to the grocery shopping, to providing daily meals and meeting all the donor's needs.

Mrs. Cox-Vermont wants to see a Divine Journey chapter in her home Island of Bermuda.

Anyone who would like to become involved, be a volunteer or know more about kidney donating, can reach Mrs. Cox-Vermont at the Divine Journey in the US on (303) 371-4554 or (303) 576-9463, or through the website www.divinejourneyinc.org.

Alternatively, she will be on the Island until Friday, and can be reached via her friend Delores Glasford on 236-1928 or 737-0128.