'Her brave sacrifice': Former Tallahassee Democrat reporter dies from stroke at age 38
Aimee Sachs was a rare breed, an intrepid journalist who cut her teeth in newsrooms throughout Florida and Georgia while covering courts, high school and professional sports and most recently politics.
Above all, Sachs was a storyteller. She used her deep knowledge, particularly of baseball – the sport she loved most – to write in-depth pieces on topics and high-profile players that others hadn't touched. She was most at home sitting at a news desk, in a press box overlooking a ball park or on the sidelines to land a post-game interview.
She loved the thrill of the game. But her young life was cut short after suffering two strokes in the last two weeks, the last one being the most debilitating.
Sachs died May 31 at HCA Florida Capital Hospital in Tallahassee. She was 38.
"No one saw it coming, and it plunged her into a really terrible physical situation where she was put into ICU and put on a ventilator," said Ron Sachs, her father, a veteran public relations professional who's also the founder and chairman of Sachs Media.
"Every parent's worst nightmare is to outlive any of your children ... Aimee put so much light into the world. Every relationship she had, any encounters she had professionally and personally, we feel blessed to have loved her as long as we were fortunate to love her."
Sachs' commitment to journalism
Sachs is a 2007 University of Florida graduate who earned her degree in telecommunications. Her first full-time journalism job was at the Tallahassee Democrat, where she was the prep sports reporter from 2008 to 2010.
Throughout her career, Sachs also worked as a print and online reporter for the Bradenton Herald, Lakeland Ledger, and with MLB.com — a job that allowed her to report on her favorite team, the Atlanta Braves. She also spent six years covering the courts system in Atlanta and Tampa for Courthouse News Service.
Born in Miami Beach, Sachs came to Tallahassee as a young child and was raised in the capital city. While college and career took her out of the city, Sachs returned to Tallahassee from Atlanta two years ago and she covered state government for The Florida Channel. In addition, she was a freelance writer for Florida Politics and covered the state's 2022 primary election.
Will Brown remembers sitting next to Sachs on the sports desk at the Democrat.
"We both loved the Miami Marlins at that time. Aimee has since followed the Braves because the Marlins were perennial disappointments, who found ways to lose creatively," said Brown, who also covered prep sports.
They both lived and breathed sports and, at the time, were working their dream jobs. They bonded over the dizzying pace of covering high school sports, the rush tied to deadline writing and the pride seeing their names in print.
Their birthdays were three days apart. In the midst of reporting and carving their path as young journalists, they shared everything.
Brown now reports on race, poverty and inequality for WJCT Public Media in Jacksonville. Over the years, though, he and Sachs maintained their bond through routine and, at times, lengthy check-ins. They last spoke a few days before she went to the hospital, not knowing it would be their last conversation.
They talked shop and about life; the usual. They talked about her return to Tallahassee and the adventure and challenge married to that decision.
"Her work got her into rooms ... 'I've covered high schools. I've covered college, I've covered pros. This is what I've done,'" he said. "She was so proud of that."
Small but mighty, she blinked her final wishes
At 4'10", Sachs didn't shrink her personality to match her petite frame. Her "acerbic wit" was one of the things her big sister, Samantha Sachs, loved most about her.
They've always been close in spirit and with only 21 months separating them, they were close in age, too. When Aimee complained of severe neck pain and trouble moving, she was alarmed enough to contact 911.
A mild stroke was detected. "She blasted out one profanity-laced sentence," according to her sister, but quickly wanted to know what she needed to do to get back to her old self. Samantha didn't leave her side.
She was hopeful and worked with physical therapists at the hospital.
"She said repeatedly that she just wanted to walk again," Samantha Sachs said. "She was able to take some steps with assistance on a few days when she had physical therapy."
On Sunday morning, everything changed. Samantha and Aimee Sachs were eating in the hospital room and trading quips as they always did when the older sister noticed Aimee's speech was slurred. Her mouth began to droop, all signs of a stroke.
What doctors thought was just one blocked artery turned out to be two blocked arteries in her neck that couldn't be repaired. By Monday, they learned Sachs was in critical condition and had lost all physical use of her body.
Their hopes shattered and reality seeped in that Sachs' quality of life would rely heavily on significant medical intervention just to stay alive. Crushed, her father and sisters absorbed the shock, stayed by her side and ultimately broke the news to her on Tuesday.
"The worst conversation and most difficult interview I ever had was that conversation with my daughter, where we told her the prognosis, that she was never going to walk again, feed herself, bathe yourself or run around and be happy," Ron Sachs said. "You'll always have the ability to think and feel things, but you're trapped in your body. I think medically they call it locked in because you're locked in a body that doesn't function."
The only movement his daughter had was her ability to blink.
After explaining she could blink to communicate her responses, he asked her if she wanted to go on and live on life support, knowing it was possible and others have chosen to do so with limited mobility.
The choice was hers.
"She closed her eyes so fast and so tight there were wrinkles on her eyelids," Sachs said.
The father of three daughters — a proficient communicator whose storied career includes working for Florida governors and as a government and investigative reporter for The Miami Herald and editorial director for Miami’s ABC affiliate — could hardly put this loss into words. Ron and Samantha Sachs stayed until the end.
"We were right there at her side, touching her face, talking to her, and it was a great and painful privilege," Sachs said.
Before she died, Sachs said he talked to his daughter about her decision to be an organ donor as indicated on her driver's license.
He asked if she still wanted to do so, prompting her to blink in the affirmative. The family later learned that three different people received Sachs' organs through successful transplants. Knowing that brings comfort and an even deeper love for Sachs' selfless nature and legacy.
"I've never known anyone braver," Samantha Sachs said. "She was an extraordinary human being."
Julie Sachs, the youngest of the trio, lives in Gainesville. Samantha shared a statement from her sister who couldn't be present during the interview:
"Aimee was my big sister and my lifelong best friend. Nobody could make me laugh like she did. And we sure laughed constantly. Aimee made her little sister incredibly proud for her entire life but never more than with her brave sacrifice at the end of it. My sister is my forever hero."
Service and scholarship information
A memorial service for Aimee Sachs will take place at 11 a.m. June 13 at Temple Israel, 2215 Mahan Drive.
The Sachs family established the "Aimee Nicole Sachs Memorial Scholarship in Sports Journalism" at the University of Florida College of Journalism & Communications. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations through the University of Florida Foundation for this scholarship that will benefit students pursuing a career in sports communications. The link: UFgive.to/AimeeSachs
Contact Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com and follow @TaMarynWaters on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: News obituary: Former Tallahassee Democrat reporter Sachs dies of stroke
