A devastated dad "felt numb" when an ambulance crew told him his daughter had died just minutes after he found her collapsed on the floor.
Paul Stephens found his daughter Sarah, 32, on the floor of her bedroom at his Seaforth home on November 20 this year. Paul, 67, told the ECHO he called an ambulance despite "everything seeming normal" and a crew arrived at the house soon after. But Paul added he will never forget the moment a crew member turned to him and said "she's gone".
Mum-of-three Sarah previously featured in the ECHO when she was just six after she made a "miraculous recovery" from cancer through the help of a new experimental treatment. Paul said Sarah, who lost a leg following the treatment over 25 years ago, had regular hospital appointments because of her previous illness.
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But despite this, the coroner does not know her cause of death leaving her devastated family without any answers more than two weeks on. Speaking to the ECHO yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, December 5, Paul said: "Her death is still a real puzzle to us all. The coroner could not find a cause of death.
"They have passed her onto the pathologist. I heard her earlier in the morning in the bathroom and she wasn't very well but it didn't seem anything out of the ordinary. I ask myself if I had called an ambulance then would she still be alive, but an ambulance would not have been able to treat her for anything.
"I went into her room and she was on the floor but she told me she was not in any pain. She often had muscle spasms because of her leg and we knew she was having them because she gritted her teeth. There was nothing like that – she was just normal. I called an ambulance anyway and it came within 12 minutes."
At the point an ambulance crew arrived Sarah's condition had worsened. Paul added: "The ambulance crew started working on her but then they just turned to me and told me she was gone. I felt numb. It was just unbelievable. I still can't get my head around it."
Paul told the ECHO Sarah "was absolutely amazing and incredibly strong". He said her early years at school were a struggle following her cancer diagnosis but as she got older she became more boisterous and more outgoing.
He added: "She loved swimming and she tried out for the netball team, despite only having one leg – that shows the type of kid she was. She was never embarrassed about having one leg – she never let it hold her back. She was our only child so we gave her everything."
Sarah had three children of her own – Brooke, 15, Kourtney, 11, and Isaac, two – despite being told she would never be able to have them due to her childhood treatments. Paul described her as "a brilliant mum who lived for her kids".
Sadly due to her age Sarah never had life insurance leaving her family struggling to cover the costs for her funeral. Paul added his wife and Sarah's mum, Susan, 68, was recently diagnosed with cancer and has multiple tumours on her body.
Two-year-old Isaac is also living with them at their home, while the older girls are living with their dad's family. Paul told the ECHO: "We've just got Isaac into nursery which is a huge cost while we're waiting for social services' funding. Everything is just building up.
"The funeral directors have been really good – they've said we can spread the costs over a couple of years. They've been really understanding. We want to pay for a memorial so the children, especially Isaac, can go and visit to hold onto memories of their mum."
Paul told the ECHO the children are all dealing with the trauma of losing their mum in different ways. He said Brooke has been quiet and has withdrawn to spend more time with her friends, while Kourtney does not want to go to school.
Paul added: "Brooke told me she wants to cry, but doesn't know how. How heartbreaking is that, an 11-year-old who doesn't know how to cry? It's a situation I wouldn't want anyone to go through."
Despite the heartbreak the family are going through, Paul said the response from the community around them has been fantastic. He said around 50 people came out last Friday night for a balloon release for her – and people have donated hundreds already to a GoFundMe page.
And when asked how he wanted his only daughter to be remembered, Paul told the ECHO: "Sarah got a second chance at life and lived another 26 years. She never took anything for granted and lived everyday as it came and brought up three amazing children. I hope everyone cherishes life the same way."
You can donate to the family's fundraiser to help cover funeral costs here.
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