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Ashleigh Hughes
On the 22nd
of July 2008 Ashleigh Christina Hughes passed away. I just recently came
across your website that had Ashleigh's story on it.
Ashleigh had
the Glenn's procedure done. All seemed
successful but then the surgeons and nurses realised after the 9 hour
operation that Ashleigh had a bleed coming from somewhere, so she was
taken back into theatre for further exploration to find the bleed.
Later she was brought back into intensive care and we were told that
Ashleigh's operation had been successful.
Later on Ashleigh didn't seem to be getting better and was detraining.
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Claire Dee Shapland
From the day Claire was
born there was no mistaking she was a little girl, her sparkling blue
eyes and smile would bring warmth to everyone who met her, feminine to
the ends of her eye lashes. As Claire grew up in to a young lady her
personality was one of embracing the love of her family, considering
others and enjoying life.
“Until you become a
parent yourself you have no idea of the adoring love that develops for
one’s own children” - they are truly the embodiment of one’s life.
In February 2005, Claire
and I went to see the film 'Ray Charles' as I have always enjoyed his
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Faye Linton
Faye was only 25 years of age when she so suddenly died.
She was within days of going on a 'once in a lifetime' holiday
to America when we found her dead in bed on the morning of 30th
October 2006.
The doctors knew that Faye had a heart block problem, but as she
had a pacemaker fitted less than six months previously they were
happy for her to go to America.
She was a beautiful, happy, kind and hard working young woman.
She worked in a very busy call centre for Barclays Bank, in the
business section. more
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Stephen Westley
Stephen was just 34
when he was taken from me by this silent killer. He had
woken up early on Saturday 18th March 2006, being sick. He went
to the chemist to ask for something to help him as he was eager
to go and get my Mothers Day present.
I remember him laughing
when I said I wanted drawer/cupboard handles to complete my new kitchen.
I needed 13 and between my five children this is what I had asked for.
He collapsed whilst out and
the chemist rang for an ambulance. I have never bought the final two
handles - I just cannot, because I know Stephen wanted to get them.
He was rushed to hospital
where he was diagnosed as having gastroenteritis and he was given an
injection and advised to lie down for half an hour to let it work.
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Mathew Blease
The 1st
February 2008 was the saddest day of my life. My beautiful son Mathew
was taken from me suddenly at the tender age of 13, just 6 weeks before
his 14th birthday.
Mathew
was fit and healthy with lots of energy. He played football for his
dad's team and was a coach with my team - he was about to take his
referee badge too. He played badminton for his school and lived life to
the full.
Mathew
had complained of a sore throat on the Monday but still went to school.
On the Wednesday afternoon he told me he did not feel well and was going
to lie down. more |
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Leanne Haddrell
On
the 1st of May 2008, our beautiful precious daughter and wonderful
sister to David was sadly taken from us, aged just 21.
Leanne was at Uni studying sports and was in her 2nd year. She
was an incredibly fit and healthy young lady which is why this is
all so hard to understand. Leanne played water polo and swam for the
University and came home at weekends to work as a lifeguard at our
local leisure centre.
Leanne had been a bit off colour the weekend before and we thought
she had flu. However, she didn't want to come home.
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Timothy Spooner
Known affectionately as
Tim, he was taken from us so suddenly, and is now laid to rest with his
mum Kate.
Tim was a very active
person who lived life 24/7. He worked hard and played hard and was a
fanatical football player, who was a dedicated
Chelsea
fan.
His life revolved around
football and his girlfriend Natalie, with whom he spent so much of his
time.
Tim’s sudden death
occurred on
Saturday 17th May 2008.
He left home with Natalie at 9.45am to play in an end of season 6-a-side
match and barbeque. more |
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Jamahl Samuels
It was just a normal day. Jamahl had broken up from school for his Easter
holidays. It was Thursday, tomorrow was Easter Friday.
I came home
from work at about 4pm, happy because I also had a few days off work for
Easter and planned to relax and enjoy my time off. Jamahl was lying on
the settee watching the television as normal, "How was work mom?" he asked;
"How was school Jay?" I asked - just as we normally did.
I went straight into the kitchen and started to cook dinner. Jamahl was
still lying on the settee and I interrupted him and sent him to the
local shop to buy some cat food and a newspaper.
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Michelle McFeely
My girlfriend, Michelle McFeely of Coleraine, died on 25th January 2008
aged 30.
Post mortem
was carried out, but no cause of death was found. When speaking to her
sister she said her father's side had a history of problems with the
heart.
Michelle had
a monitor from the hospital which measured heart palpitations, as she
had them very occasionally - but the week and a half she had the monitor
she didn't have any, so obviously the monitor couldn't register
anything.
A week before she died she suffered from a nasty bout of flu but thought
it was going away so returned to work.
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Tom Clabburn
Today should have been my son's 15th birthday.
Instead I am writing about life after Tom.
Tom
died in his sleep in October this year of an undiagnosed heart-related
condition. He had been fit, active, healthy, doing well at school,
bright and happy. We were not, in any way, prepared.
This is not about my wife or my daughter.
Other than saying that they will
always be everything to me, their story is for them. This is about me and
Tom. It is about the living and the dead. For at this moment, the two are
wrapped around each other in an embrace that is tight and total and painful.
I would not have it any other way.
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Kevin Smart
My name is Lynn Smart. My brother,
Kevin Smart, very sadly died on 5th September 2007 aged just
33.
He had worked from home that day - he
normally worked in London but there were train driver strikes which had
caused him a good few hours of delays on the previous working days. My
mum went round to clean for him at about 10ish and had a brief chat with
him about some sad news from his office where one of his colleagues had
died the previous Saturday whilst away on holiday - caused by treatment
from a throat infection!!
When my mum left, all seemed OK and
Kevin was his normal chatty but busy self and didn’t complain of feeling
unwell. more |
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Chris Doyle
On January 9th 2007, my son Chris Doyle,
after having played a game of soccer, went home and complained of not
feeling well.
His mum sat up with him and Chris insisted
on going to bed and told everyone he would be OK. His mum went to wake
him for school (Galashiels Academy) but found him dead.
We were all shocked and had no warning at
all of this, and to lose a 16 year old son was devastating to us all.
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Amy Russell
Our only daughter Amy Jayne Russell was born 7th
January 1984. Throughout her life she was fit and healthy with no
unusual illnesses nor signs of one.
When she was 20 years old she trained with a tour
operator to be a 'kiddie rep' for them because she loved children.
She left Manchester on 12th March 2004 - and never came back to us!
Playing water polo in the hotel swimming pool with
the residents and staff on 15th October 2004, Amy collapsed and
could not be revived. She died at the poolside. The post mortem in
Spain could find 'no cause of death'.
In
order to release her to the UK the death certificate stated that she
died from a 'coronary embolism'.
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Kevin Eaton
My name
is Louisa Eaton, and on 22 July 2007 my 28 year old husband, Kevin Eaton
had a seizure at home and died. After investigation, it was found that
he had suffered a heart attack caused by Coronary Artery Disease. Shock
is an understatement. He hadn’t felt particularly well that week but
nothing out of the ordinary.
I love
Kevin with every part of me and to watch the life drain from the one you
love is the most heartbreaking experience.
Regardless of my efforts, and those of my next door neighbour (thanks
Mark), we, then paramedics were unable to bring him back and he was
pronounced dead on arrival at our local hospital.
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David Williams
On the evening of the 13th
December 2005, my 16 year old son David returned home from a kick boxing
session. He was his usual self apart from the fact that he told me
his heart was racing. I suggested that he had overdone it and his
heart rate was just taking a while to get back to normal. He showered
and ate then later went to bed.
Little did I know that that
would be the last time I would see him alive.
My daughter Lisa found him in
the morning curled up as if asleep. She initially thought he was
messing around (something that he would have probably done) but when he
did not wake, she phoned 999 and performed resuscitation with the
support of the operator, but it was too late.
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Sharron Jones
Sharron was just 39 when she died on Saturday 26th May 2007. We received
a phone call from her children saying paramedics were trying to
resuscitate their mom - they were crying uncontrollably. She had been
out for a meal, came home, sat down and it happened.
We told
the kids we would meet them at the hospital where a few hours later
Sharron was pronounced dead, to our utter disbelief.
She had
been fit and healthy so why did this happen? At the time, doctors
believed she had a blood clot which had burst, but on Post Mortem there
was no evidence. Further invasive tests also showed nothing apart
from that she was perfectly fit and healthy.
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Hannah Turberville
Our daughter Hannah Turberville died suddenly on February 17th
2007 aged just 7 years old. Her death was made even more dramatic
by the fact we were on holiday as a family, in France, due to return to
England the following morning.
We were skiing with Lucy, Hannah’s non-identical twin sister, and
Oliver, her 8 year old brother. We had a fantastic week skiing as a
family of 5 and one which we will never forget. We were self-catering
and had gone out for dinner on the Friday evening and had a lovely meal.
Hannah had eaten pizza and then ice cream one of her favourite meals. We
had talked about the holiday - the best bits and the not so good bits.
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Gareth Thomas
When Gareth’s heart stopped on February
25th this year it broke all our hearts. Gareth was 21 years
old, a graduate in International Politics and Law with his whole life
ahead of him. He had recently moved into a house with three of his
oldest friends and they were busy finding jobs and playing together in
the band they had formed while still at school.
Gareth was very fit and healthy. He had
played football for years and had returned from his first skiing trip
just two weeks before he died. He was such a kind, gentle young man and
loved spending time with his friends and family.
He loved films and computer games and
playing his bass guitar. more |
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Luke Ashton
Christmas day 2006 began much as any other day, with the familiar
routine of dog walking and a hurried, rather cursory tidying up. I
recall stuffing the Telegraph colour supplement under the chaise,
thinking that the cover feature on the effects of melting ice caps on
Polar bears had to be read, but was too sad for Christmas.
I was wholly ignorant of the tragedy that was about to envelop my family
before the day was through. My second son Luke slumbered on as I left
for work as a District nurse in Ramsey, Isle of Man. Luke opened his
presents in his room, and then spent the afternoon walking with his
grandfather and the dogs. more |
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Mark Phelps
Mark was
25 when he died on the 18th November 2002. At the time I (his brother
Matthew) was working away and received a call from my mother just after
6.30 to say he had died. For me it was the most surreal phone call I
have ever received and I hurriedly got to Euston station London to get
home to Birmingham as quickly as I could.
The
previous night Mark, I and the rest of the family had been at a memorial
service for our Grandmother who had died a year previous and Mark was
the picture of health. He played football twice a week and was generally
a lot fitter and healthier than his older brother who smoked, and drank
more than he did. more |
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Max French
Maxwell George French died at 21.18 on 25th
June 2007. He was 24. It had just been a normal Monday evening. My
tea was ready on the table when I got back from work and we sat down to
discuss our days. Max then got into his sports kit ready to play
football with some friends he organised French conversation evenings
with. Not being the sportiest person, he was full of trepidation, but
after some reassurance he left excited about the match.
An hour later I received
a phone call. Max’s friend told me he’d suffered a cardiac arrest and
that I had to get to the hospital as soon as possible. I jumped on a
bus and once there, sprinted into the hospital. I was led into a
small room and given the news. Max had been jogging along joking about
his lack of fitness when suddenly he collapsed. Despite the efforts of
friends to resuscitate him, there was nothing anybody could do. I had
no idea how to act or feel. more |
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Sarah Simpson
Thursday 19th April 2007 will be
a day that we as a family will remember forever. April 19th
every year is special anyway as it is my wife’s birthday. Our daughter
Sarah (age 20), who worked in a care home, was on late shift that day
and as a result we had celebrated my wife’s birthday the evening before
with a family favourite meal of fish and chips.
That day (the 18th) Sarah had
been to the zoo with some of the residents of the care home, and was
full of stories about how much both she and the residents had enjoyed
the day, and showed us lots of photographs she had taken of them all. My
wife and I, Sarah and her elder brother Will (age 22), all round the
table laughing and joking and talking about how everyone was getting on,
just normal family stuff. more |
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Simon Jon Cullum
Simon was my oldest son, born on 6th
October 1977. He was fit and healthy, a normal 29 year old who
didn't drink or smoke.
On Friday 8th June 2007 I came
home from doing some shopping to find Simon sitting at the computer.
On my arrival he came into the kitchen and we had a conversation
about what we would be having for dinner that evening, and then he
went up to his bedroom to go on the Playstation. It was around
11.45am.
At 12.45pm I noticed
that his car keys were still in the kitchen and he had an
appointment in town at that time. I called him and got no
reply. more
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Marcus Armstrong
Marcus was 28 years old
when he died. Two days previously he was at home when he felt ill. He
was short of breath, sweating and had chest pains - the symptoms were
identical to when he was rushed to hospital a few years earlier. Back
then it was diagnosed as a panic attack after lots of tests and 4 hours
in the hospital.
Marcus told his partner
Lucy he would be fine as he didn’t want to go back into hospital again.
The next day he felt better and went to work as a Taxi driver in Harwich
but his mum was insistent he went to the doctors for a check up.
He reluctantly went,
they did an ECG test, blood pressure and other checks, and was assured
everything was fine. The next day he collapsed and died.
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Christopher Dixon
Christopher was 19 years
old, my stepson and Karen's only child. He had just found his first love and
had everything to live for.
On Friday 8th June 2007
he was having a kick-about in Kings Park, Swanage with a couple of
mates. He stopped, looked over to Aimee his girlfriend, smiled and
waved, and as they turned away he collapsed with cardiac arrest, falling
onto his back. Unfortunately as he did so, he vomited and inhaled the
vomit.
His
friends called for an ambulance and commenced CPR. Being rural Dorset,
it took 10 - 20 minutes for a paramedic to arrive and he, seeing how
severe the situation was, called for a helicopter to get Chris to
hospital. more |
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Chris Gorman
My husband died on the 28 June 2007.
He was a healthy, fit 29 year old man. He
had been training all year for the London to Brighton bike ride. He had
been cycling 30 miles every weekend and there had never been a problem.
He left my house on the
Saturday night before the bike ride, to stay with a friend who lived in
London (1 mile away from the start line). He ate his dinner and had a
fairly early night, he got up in the morning, had his breakfast and left
around 5.30am. He rode the 1 mile to the start line. The next think I
knew was when the police knocked on my door at around 7am and asked to
come in. I asked if I needed to sit down and was told "yes".
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Matthew Kamis
My son, aged 26 years,
died on 15th January 2006, (born on November 22nd
1980), of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, which we had never heard of
before we lost Matthew. Matthew was our youngest child. He had never
been ill, and had shown no signs of feeling unwell.
On
the morning of January 15th, around lunchtime, Matthew had
just woken up, as he worked six days a week and on a Sunday he had a lie
in bed. I, his mum, was just coming out of the bathroom, which is
opposite to Matthew’s room. He asked me if I would make him a bacon
sandwich. more |
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Neville McIntosh
Neville - or Nev as most of us knew him - was
born on 11th March 1970. He was known to be always on the go - always
smiling, cracking jokes and would always help people out. He became
the very, very proud father of his 3 beautiful children, Alex(17),
Olivia(13) and Claudia(6).
I (Kirsty) met Nev in February 2005. We fell
in love instantly and became inseparable. We were soulmates. I finally
knew what love was and it was well worth the wait! Nev proposed to me 6
months after we met. He even drove down to South Wales to ask my dad for
my hand in marriage. We were hoping to get married towards the end of
this year.
Nev had worked for over 10 years at
Pilkington Glass as an overhead crane driver. In February 2006 he took a
very intense course to become a qualified tower crane driver!
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Leon Ashley Manners
Let me take you back to the day in question,
July 17th 1999. A bright, warm, sunny day. My son Leon was
excited as it was his final day at nursery school. He was due to start
the ‘BIG’ school in September.
When we arrived at the school, Leon had to
try on his new school uniform. I can picture him standing tall and
proud. He looked so grown up in his little grey trousers, white shirt
and blue jumper. I said, “Look at you my baby, all grown up!” He
looked at me all coy with a big gorgeous grin.
After school, Leon’s friend came to play in
the back garden. more |
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Grant Capell
I lost my baby brother
Grant Capell on the 20th March 2007. He was only 16 years old!
He was out playing with
friends, outside my parents' house in Ireland in the evening. He
was giving a young girl a piggy back, when he put her down and
complained of being tired and then just fell down unconscious.
Unfortunately, although he still had a faint pulse, they tried for 40
minutes to resuscitate him but to no avail. He died there on the
pavement at around 10.50pm
My dad phoned me at my
home in London straight afterwards and told me. I remember feeling as
if my heart had been ripped out from my chest.
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Graeme Blenkinsop
My name is Lynda, and like everyone in
this section, I have all lost someone due to a heart related
illness.
I lost my brother on the 4th August 2006
and it just seems like a dream now! My brother came home that
day complaining of chest pains - we all thought nothing of it as he
had be complaining of a cold a few days before and of course he was
only 21! At 21 why on earth would he die? To this day we
all ask ourselves the same thing.
The doctors told us it was due to his
arteries closing to 50% and all they could come up with was
cholesterol, which seemed mad at the time as my brother was a fit
lad who enjoyed sport. more
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Daniel Vavasour
On October 6th 2005 I got
a phone call from my dad. His tone was serious and I immediately knew
something was wrong. He spoke to my mum first, who answered the phone.
Her face had an expression
of utter shock. She silently passed me the phone and I nervously listened
as my dad told me that my 15 year old cousin had died.
I felt numb and my face
drained of colour. When I finished the phone call, the news wouldn’t sink
in. Dan and I were born five months apart and he’d lived in the same
street as me for almost ten years.
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Ryan Darby
Ryan is our only child. We love him dearly.
He was our life. Happy-go-lucky, everyone’s friend. As one friend said
at his funeral ‘gave everything, asked for nothing’. That really summed
him up.
Ryan and Nicola (Ryan’s fiancée) had a little
boy, Harley, 2 ½ years ago. We were over the moon. Our life was
complete. What joy – we would see them two or three times in the week and
every Sunday for lunch. Every holiday was spent with us in our house in
Spain.
We had all been to Spain in June for a family
holiday, but in August Ryan wanted to go and visit his friend in Thailand.
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Jimmy & Chrissy
Our family had a very
strong history of seizures. It began with Mom and myself and I
passed it on to my children. We had been labelled with epilepsy and
with medicine we lived a fairly normal life.
Chrissy began having
seizures at seven years of age and Jimmy began at eleven or twelve.
Jimmy was 22, married with a baby when I received a phone call on April
15, 2000, that would forever change our lives.
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Nathan Butler
Where
do we start? There’s so much to tell - as his teacher’s used to say!
Nathan was born on 1st April 1989 and even as
a young baby he managed to attract a lot of attention - a charm which
became more evident as he grew up into a young man. He was always full of
life and as a young boy he wanted to be involved in everything that was
going on and his main aim was to entertain.
His favourite characters were Fireman Sam and
Superman and we have vivid memories of him in his own “home made” Superman
costume consisting of red pants over blue joggers, a blue sweatshirt with
a cardboard coloured ‘S’ stuck on the front and a tea towel for a cape!
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Anthony McCarroll
Anthony was born on the 16th of
August 1986, and died on the 20th of September 2006.
As a boy, Anthony was always smiling and was
very quiet. He did well at school, never got into any trouble, got on with
his work and always did his homework on time. At home you very rarely saw
Anthony because he was always in his bedroom either doing his homework or
playing on his Playstation.
This was the case until he left school. His
dad got him an Engineering apprenticeship when he left school, at Elmsteel
where he was an Operations Manager. He settled in well at work and soon
developed into an asset to the company.
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Daniel Boughey
My son was so full of life, he loved it so much.
I am not saying he was an angel, as at times he could be a right pain - that's
teenagers for a you. But a mother's love is unconditional, and I loved
Daniel so much. He was my life and I would do anything for him - same as
my other children Stuart and Jessica.
As all brothers and sisters, they had their
ups and downs. He always had a smile on his face, and was forever
making us laugh. I miss him so much - we all do. Sunday 3rd
September was a lovely family day, something that we can't always do due
to work, etc. and Stu and Daniel wanting to do their own things.
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Daniel Larkin
Our wonderful son Daniel was tragically taken
from us on 6th January 2006. Daniel was just nineteen years old.
He was the biggest Liverpool football fan ever - it really was his life.
He was loved by everyone who met him. Danny was a quiet and sensible
young man with an extremely good sense of humour. We all miss him
every hour of every day. The memories he has left behind have made
us all very, very proud.
Myself, his Dad and younger brother Adam
had only left Danny that morning to fly back to Mallorca, as we were
living and working there at the time.
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Lisa Jane Browne
My husband, Terry, and I
received a telephone call from our son-in-law on Saturday 10 January 1998 at
approximately 8am to say that our daughter, Lisa Jane Browne, a nurse, aged 27
years, was being taken to hospital. My son-in-law told me that
he had received a telephone call from the hospital ward, where Lisa was due to
be working the early shift, to ask if Lisa had overslept. Unable to rouse
Lisa, my son-in-law called the paramedics who were unfortunately unable to
resuscitate Lisa. When my husband and I arrived at the hospital we were told
that Lisa had died.
A post mortem two days later
revealed no obvious cause of death, and I was informed by the Pathologist
that Lisa should still be alive. more
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Laura Hillier
Whenever I think back to Friday 20th June 2003 -
which is still most days - I remember the clear blue sky and warm sunshine, and
recall thinking "how could such a tragedy strike in a moment on such a lovely
summer's day?"
Laura was 21 years and 6 months old. The
detail seems important. She had just completed her second term of a BA
course in Early Childhood Studies at University College Northampton (later to
become the University of Northampton). She loved young children, was a
natural with them, and they in turn loved her. Everybody loved Laura.
She was lively, witty, talkative and energetic, without any streak of malice or
unkindness. more |
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Charlene Page
Our beautiful daughter Charlene Page was born on the
29th September 1985, and passed away on the 6th July 2005 from SADS.
Charlene had always appeared fit and healthy, and
had always kept in good health. She had no symptoms to alert us that
anything was wrong.
She was a very lively kid and made friends easily.
This was due to her friendly nature and her wicked sense of humour.
The 6th of July 2005 started off as another 'typical
day'. more |
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Greg Highwood-Mack
His name was Greg Highwood-Mack and on the 19th
March – after nine days in intensive care – in the arms of those who loved
him and whom he loved most dearly, he slipped away.
The last time we hugged was the morning of the 10th
March. It seemed like any other day…but I suppose that’s what most days
feel like. What I wouldn’t give for ordinary. The truth is it was never
ordinary with Greg. From the very start he made his mark – arriving 5
weeks early to the surprise of his parents. I suppose it was the trauma of
this particular experience that led to Greg’s aversion to arriving early
ever again…but he was always worth the wait.
Greg was the boy I was going to marry. He came into my life
two years ago… more |
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Jonathan Leigh
Jonathan was coming to
the end of his first year as a trainee surveyor at the commercial property
consultants King Sturge in Leeds, and without doubt had a bright future.
He loved the job and the people with whom he worked. He was a talented
sportsman but his main love was soccer.
As a schoolboy he was a
member of the highly successful Wakefield Schools’ FA under 11 team in
1995/96, and continued to represent the District through to the final
under 15 age group in 1999/2000. He was a member of Rotherham
United’s Academy side and was voted player of the season for his College 1st
XI and for the Castleford & District FA side in 2002.
He made his full debut for Pontefract Collieries 1st XI in the
Northern Counties East League in April 2002.
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Cameron Strathie
Our precious, beautiful son, born 2 August
1999, passed away 7 January 2006 aged 6 years, he was our first child and
our pride and joy. Cameron passed suddenly in our living room whilst
watching TV with his little sister Leah, aged 2.
He had been suffering from a bad flu but that
day and the 2 previous but he seemed to be on the road to recovery, he had
no sign of any illness on that day, the worst day of our lives. He just
stopped breathing, I heard a loud snoring noise and found him on his side,
his Dad had just popped out and returned just as this was happening. He
tried his best to resuscitate him but the ambulance took 20 minutes and
although the paramedics also tried their best, just after we got to the
hospital we were told the most shocking awful news.
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Stuart Attridge
Stuart was born on Saturday 11th October 1980
at 9.30pm at the old Redhill General Hospital. He waited until the
Dinner Dance was underway and then made his appearance in his usual rush,
with our doctor only just catching him as he was born. Rosemary's first comment
was on how small he was - the lightest of all our children at only 6lbs
2oz. Who would have guessed he would grow to be the tall, strapping
young man that he was. A placid baby who was content to let his big
brother amuse and torment him until he was old enough to retaliate!
Stuart attended a playgroup
and then started his school days at the old Reigate Parish Church School.
His all round talent for sport soon started to appear, and can you believe
he learnt to play the violin. more |
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Joel Davies
Joel died in his sleep between the night of
Wednesday June 8th and Thursday 9th June. We are still awaiting the
inquest but as there was no cause of death found we believe he died of
Sudden Adult Death. We, his parents, were on a 10-day, 24 year
belated honeymoon in St Lucia at the time of his death.
He was healthy and very happy, especially that
day. He had rushed home from work to make sure someone was in to
sign for his Glastonbury ticket. The ticket arrived at around 5pm.
We only know this as he was chatting on msn to friends saying how ecstatic
he was to have them in his hand. His msn named had been changed to
`I have my ticket in my hand'. The msn messaging went on until
around 7.45pm. The last message to someone was `I am off for a bit...be
back later'. more
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Alaina Taylor
Alaina was born in 1990 and was a lovely
healthy baby of 9lb 3oz. The delivery was fast, with no pain relief
- in fact the nurses were stunned as I laughed though most of it.
Fifty minutes later she was here. From day one she wanted to see and
listen - always wanting to know about things. As she got older she
knew facts we did not, and would put us to shame when she knew stuff.
She is the youngest of three. Kelly is
her older sister who will be twenty in March, and Craig, her brother, was
eighteen in November. Me and Carl have been happily married for
twenty one years, and we live in a new four bedroom property that we have
made our home. Alaina has her own room and loved to go and use her
computer and put on loud music as soon as she came home from school.
We always had our evening meal together as a family, and we would talk for
ages, laughing about the day's events or past events.
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Chris Rice
My son Chris died on Monday 26th September
2005 aged 18 years. He was at Hengistbury Head, where he taught
sailing and kayaking. He also coached swimming for Bournemouth
Dolphins. He loved working with children and was an inspiration to
all whose lives he touched. Chris achieved in 18 years what many
would not achieve in 80 years.
Chris was a county level swimmer, and was
diagnosed with HCM at 10 years of age. We were told that there was
no cure. They tried Beta-Blockers for a time, but they made Chris
very tired and seemed to give him symptoms. Chris was monitored
six-monthly at Southampton Hospital, until he was 17 years old. We
went every six months, and my lovely placid son would turn into an
argumentative monster every time. He used to say, "Its pointless.
We all say the same thing every time - is it any better? Any worse?
No, see you in six months." more
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In memory of my fiancée Deb
The 29th June 2004 is a day that I
will never forget!! The previous day I had left my fiancée to go home
to my parents for the night - this was nothing unusual as we were waiting
to move into a new home together. It was about 10pm when I got a text
message from Deb saying “I am going to bed now darling, love you, speak to
you in the morning”, I replied almost instantly with “Love you too, I am
going to bed too, got work early tomorrow”. We both went to bed happy,
expecting to speak to each other in the morning.
My alarm went off at 5:50am. I struggled
out of bed and the first thing that I did, as every other day when at my
parents house, was text Deb. I wrote the text message, “Morning Darling,
how are you today? I really don’t want to get out of bed!!” I found
it unusual that she had not replied within a couple of minutes of me
sending this. more
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Stephen Ruggier
My 17-year-old son Stephen Peter Ruggier was a
fit, healthy lad who was looking forward to becoming 18 - which was only
twenty days away when he died. He died on 4th October 2004, and was
going to celebrate his 18th birthday on the 24th October.
He was always happy and full of life.
He was training to be a mechanic, and had just started his second and
final year at college. He had already achieved his Level 1, which we
are all very proud of.
It all started on the Saturday morning when
Stephen said he did not feel well. On the Sunday the doctor came and
said that Stephen had tonsilitis, and prescribed him with penicillin.
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Martyn Luckett
Monday 11 July 2005 was
the worst day of my life. As I stood in the flat I thought this wasn’t
happening to me, it must be a dream. As I waited in the hospital I
remember thinking everything will be ok. Then I watched as the doctor
approached me and I knew by the expression on his face that it wasn’t
going to be good news. I felt numb.
All week, silly things
have been going through my mind. I keep thinking what will I say when new
people I meet ask me “have you got any brothers or sisters?” How would I
answer them?
I am a great believer in
fate, and that things happen for a reason. This last ten days have made
me question this belief. But if there is some sort of sense to this
tragedy, it would be that Martyn moved up with me so that we could get to
know each other before Martyn left this world.
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Jonathan Picker
Jonathan and I met back in 1997 and I knew I
had found my perfect partner. We married the following year and had
several wonderful years before we decided to have a family of our own. In
2002 I gave birth to our beautiful son Thomas. We had so many plans and
dreams for our future, now these have been shattered and I have to make
new plans alone for Thomas and my future.
It was Wednesday 27th October 2004,
Jonathan was feeling tired having been on jury service all day, but as he
was home early he decided to catch up with his friends and play 5 a side
football. Jonathan got ready at home and was talking to Thomas,
telling him how excited he was that he would be able to go out and buy
little shin and ankle pads for him one day and how he was convinced that
he would be a fantastic football player when he grew up and would play for
England! more |
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Sarah Jane Johnson
Sarah died at the age of 29 years on the 18th
of August 2000, of an undetected heart condition called Arrhythmogenic
Cardiomyopathy. To see her you'd have never thought there'd be
anything wrong with her. She was so fit and active and went to keep fit at
the gym and also did yoga. She loved life, and she lived life to the full.
She achieved so much in her life. She
gained 9 "O" levels, as well as "A" levels, and went on to Birmingham
University. At the time of her death, she was an office manager for
a company called P.D.C. Brush in Crewe.
Sarah loved watching her beloved Arsenal
Football team, and also drawing, sketching, and painting - and she had an
"A" level in Art. She loved listening to many of her CDs and singing
to them, and even did a few karaokes and won some prizes as well.
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Emelvee
My little sister Emelvee, whom my parents
nicknamed "bing-bing", passed away on March 31st 2005. I can't even fully
describe her because she was a person that was indescribable. There was
something about her that draws people to her and love her the instant that
they meet her.
She was the most adorable child, my mom
would always say that as a baby she would always hug everybody. I loved
being with my little sister. Her company was just something that you look
forward to. more |
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Aaron Lundy
On
Saturday, September 18th 1999 my life changed forever. I received a
phone call to come immediately to Coleraine Hospital. When I arrived
I was met by the doctor who told me that my youngest son Aaron was dead.
Aaron had left home for work at 5am. He returned at 10am and then
went to play a football match. He never came home.
There are no words to describe the shock and sorrow this had on myself, my
wife Ann and our family. We were told the next day by a doctor that
Aaron had a condition called Wolfe Parkinson White Syndrome and that he
had been diagnosed when he was 16 years old by our doctor.
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Kay Wilson
It’s now been
eleven months since our daughter Kay left us. We do not have to tell
you how we feel, only that she along with her surviving sister Kelly, was
one half of our life’s work and soul purpose for living. We still do
not understand why she died save the medical verdict was Myocarditis,
underlying cause unknown.
She passed
away on the 26th April 2004 one day before her 19th
Birthday. The previous evening was a celebration with her friends
for her birthday when she returned home just before midnight.
Five hours later she collapsed on her bed and died instantly without
warning. Medical reports indicate no alcohol, and no drugs - cause
of death unknown, and all our efforts to revive her were futile.
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Huw Lewis
On October 21st 2002, my
brother Huw Lewis died during a game of football in Saudi Arabia, where he
had lived and worked for over four years. He left his pregnant wife Sarah
and 5 year old daughter Molly, as well as a devastated set of parents,
siblings, friends and colleagues. Huw's death was additionally hard to
take in as he was extremely fit, having played semi-professional football
for many years. He was also training to take part in the 2003 London
Marathon.
Huw
was not just my brother, he was also my best friend, and we had grown up
playing sport together, drinking together and laughing together. Our
closeness was compounded by the fact that whilst I studied at University
in Swansea, Huw was living and working in the city and then, when I moved
to Cardiff to do a Masters degree, Huw also ended up moving to the city more |
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Pete Reynolds
Pete died suddenly on 13 October 2004. The
shock, and despair his family, girlfriend and close
friends feel cannot be expressed fully in words.
Pete was an outgoing and lively 27year old
who lived his life to the full. He was a ‘natural’ at most
sports and extremely fit. A black belt in Tae Kwon Do, he
also played football and was a regular at the gym where he
thoroughly enjoyed weight lifting. In 2003 he completed
the Stroud half marathon and also came third in the Tae
Kwon Do British Championships held up in Birmingham.
There was no sport Pete didn’t enjoy and had recently
become skilled at snowboarding and climbing.
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James Kelly
This photo of James was taken a few weeks before he passed away and the photo of him with his younger brother and sisters was actually taken the day before he collapsed.
As you can see from it, he looks very fit and healthy and appears to have nothing wrong with him. I am so happy I took the children to have the photographs taken that day, as I was in two minds whether to go or put it off until a later date as, but for some reason I decided I may
as well go.
The 5 of us had a wonderful day, getting their pictures taken (me getting hit with a beach ball and other items to keep the children smiling) and going for lunch. James also told me a few things I would never have known
if we had not gone out that day, e.g. how he liked the feeling of polystyrene (or as he called it polyester) and dipping his chips into ice-cream.
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