Zoe Duncan did not get to hear the apology to child sexual abuse victims.
Instead, a framed photo of Zoe was carried by members of her family to the Tasmanian parliament on Tuesday, to hear words which were too late in coming.
WARNING: This article contains content that some readers may find distressing.
In 2001, 11-year-old Zoe was admitted to the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) following an asthma flare-up.
What followed was alleged abuse of Zoe by a male doctor during her stay. When that was reported to authorities, the claims were dismissed.
Zoe died from epilepsy in 2017 aged 28. She had refused to return to the LGH after she was diagnosed as having "pseudo seizures" and needed psychiatric instead of medical treatment.
This year, at the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government's Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings, Zoe and her family received an apology from the head of the state's child safety service, who said there was no reason Zoe should not have been believed.
On Tuesday, ahead of that commission handing down its recommendations, the Tasmanian parliament offered its official apology to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.
Following the speeches, Zoe's father Craig Duncan described the gesture as "an important first step in a healing process", but one that needed to be followed by a commitment to implementing all the recommendations of the commission.
"It is important, we appreciate the sincere apologies that were given on Tuesday, it means a lot to us that Zoe's story has been acknowledged and believed," he said.
"While it could be argued the apology would have greater impact after the release of the commission's findings, we understand [Premier Jeremy Rockliff's] view that it is never too early to apologise.
"The next step will be vital in ensuring all the recommendations of the commission are implemented in a timely fashion."
Survivor Katrina Munting turned up to "provide pressure to the government, to make the premier feel our pain".
Ahead of the speeches, she said she hoped the apologies from Mr Rockliff and others "were not just words".
"The more survivors are here, the more pressure he feels, in the hope his apology is not just words, that it pushes more action for that process," she said.
"I am quite anxious about going in. That comes from a place of not knowing what I am about to hear. Not any apology will do.
"An apology is so much more than just saying you are sorry. There are specifics. I hope they don't go for broad brush strokes, that they are acknowledging there are serious shortcomings and failures to our young people, past and present."
Following the speeches, Ms Munting said she had "cried pretty much the whole way through it".
"I'm so emotional. I feel emotionally decimated, and all I did was listen.
"I cried pretty much the whole way through it. There weren't just general apologetic statements; there were some quite focused statements and apologising for specific failings which was good to hear.
"But it still relies on action. We can't take this as enough. Survivors won't take this as enough.
"This is an apology that's been required for a long time for a lot of people. But we won't truly feel the power of that apology unless it's followed with their actions.
"I think all speakers did refer to action and how important action is to the community and to survivors in particular.
"This can't be tokenistic. It can't be 'tick a box, we've apologised now'. This needs to be something that the government sits with and acts on with such importance, because the pain sits with us every day.
"And it doesn't go away for us; it shouldn't go away for them either."
Sam Leishman was sexually abused by a teacher at Hobart's New Town High School in the 1970s.
Watching the speeches on Tuesday was a "particularly emotional experience" for him, he said.
"Much more emotional than I was originally expecting it to be.
"I think all sides of parliament spoke from the heart … I particularly was impressed with the way that there was acknowledgement that some people are no longer with us who have suffered abuse.
"Also that there are a lot of people living with their trauma and all those negative emotions that go with that are still not able to speak up about it, or choose not to speak up about it.
"I thought it was really important to acknowledge those people. because in a lot of respects this apology that we've heard today, that may be all they ever get.
"To me it felt like a defining moment. Like it felt like a commitment from the top of government to say, 'Well, we acknowledge our past. Tomorrow is a new day; we've got to start fixing things — so we're not going to wait for those recommendations to come from the inquiry.
"Specifically, it's the acknowledgement of all the wrongs that have been done in the past, that children haven't been listened to, that parents have entrusted their children in government institutions, and they haven't been safe. It's that acknowledgement that all this has been done in the past and from tomorrow, from now, we're going to move forward and make things better, safer."
Mr Leishman said the event had "met my expectations and perhaps even exceeded (them)".
"I felt all those messages across all sides of parliament were particularly heartfelt."
