‘Life is still beautiful’: A tragedy on holiday, and a man trying to grieve

Monday, 9 March 2026

A Christchurch-based couple were in a foreign country, planning the next stages of their lives together when tragedy struck.

Andy Streb and his partner of 10 years, employment advocate Ashleigh Streb, were on holiday in Lithuania ahead of New Year’s when Ashleigh died suddenly from a pulmonary embolism.

Losing Ashleigh had been the hardest experience of his life, Andy said, but he wanted to share his journey in the hope of helping others.

A couple planning their future

Ashleigh, 32, and Andy, 30, met while they both working at Dick Smith in 2015.

After a few dates, “that was that,” said Andy.

They got married on November 23, 2019, just a day before Andy’s birthday.

Last year, the couple headed to Europe for a holiday, landing in Lithuania on December 22. They wanted to learn about the culture, as they were in the process of adopting children from the country. Having filled out all the forms, it was just a waiting game.

But shortly after arriving, both Andy and Ashleigh got “extremely sick” with what they thought was an aggressive form of Covid-19, or the flu.

Ashleigh slipped and fell on some ice, and the next day her leg was hurting “really, really badly”. They assumed the pain was due to the fall. “Knowing what we know now,” said Andy, “it was most likely a blood clot.”

Ashleigh was taken to the hospital on New Year’s Day, but it was too late; her body was already shutting down.

The hospital did everything they could, said Andy, and attempted to resuscitate Ashleigh for multiple hours, but she could not be saved.

“Ultimately what got her was a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot to the lungs,” said Andy. “When someone is that far along in a very severe infection and a pulmonary embolism has occurred, there’s very little that can be done.”

Andy was then left with the “incredibly traumatic” task of figuring out what to do in a foreign country when his life partner had just passed away, while still being ill himself.

With the support of his parents, who flew to be with him, Andy managed to get a death certificate for his wife, have her cremated, and flew home.

“Honestly, I was in no state to handle anything myself,” he said.

Grief ‘changes everything overnight’

Andy said life had been “incredibly difficult since”.

“Losing someone you love like that changes everything overnight.”

He knew it was possible that one of them might have to face life without the other, “but I never expected that that they would come in our 30s. Nothing can really prepare you for how painful that reality is.”

The pain has changed Andy, and he’s not the same person he once was.

“I’d say I’m a much more confident person. There’s not really much point in being afraid of things or afraid of confrontation or whatever, because what’s the worst that could happen?”

“The worst thing has already happened to me, so I am confident about the way that I move forward in life,” he said.

He said he carries Ashleigh and her memory with him in everything he does. His wife was known as Ashleigh the Advocate, a passionate employment advocate and a very caring person.

“I got to hear more about employment law than I always wanted to, but I loved hearing her speak passionately about the thing that she loved,” he said.

“I want to carry that aspect of her personality forward with me … I always felt confident that things were going to go OK when I followed her.”

Ashleigh’s memorial service was “a very difficult and overwhelming experience,” but Andy said it was heartening to hear just how much she cared about others, and how they cared for her in return.

Being a stay-at-home husband, Andy was left with figuring how to move on financially and has started a moving company Streb Load-N-Go, based in Christchurch.

“Watching her establish her business over the last five years encouraged me to do the same.”

‘Life is still beautiful’

Andy said there are “certainly no magic words,” that can help you grieve, but “your life isn’t over.”

Andy said there are two paths people dealing with grief tend to take: you can “get caught up in the river and sorrow and isolate,” or you can keep living.

“Life is still beautiful. It’s still worth living,” he said. “Now, what you have to do is figure out what your new future is going to look like.”

People die to disease, senseless violence and other things every day.

“For whatever reason, we’re the ones that are left behind and we have to cope with that,” he said.

“But I’m trying to honour Ashleigh by continuing to live, build something meaningful, and keep moving forward.

“Despite the pain that I now carry, I still love my life and I still want to live it to the fullest, and I know that’s what she wanted.”

Andy created a Facebook page to help articulate his thoughts and feelings within his grief, in hopes it could help others.

“It was a very difficult experience, but it made me a lot stronger,” said Andy. “I try to look for silver linings everywhere I can find them these days.”

His final message to anyone going through a similar situation was: “don’t hang on to the guilt.”

An earlier version of this story suggested Andy and Ashleigh went to Europe on holiday in December 2019. It was December 2025. (Amended 6.25pm on March 9, 2026)