Mystery death of mum, 31, who was 'completely normal' just before sudden death
The family of a 32-year-old woman who died suddenly after collapsing on her bedroom floor say they are still waiting for answers.
Mum-of-three Sarah Stephens died within minutes of an ambulance arriving.Her bereaved father Paul explained he had called the ambulance only as a precaution, with "everything seeming normal".
But the family is still without answers as the coroner does not know her cause of death more than two weeks after the tragedy. "Her death is still a real puzzle to us all. The coroner could not find a cause of death", Paul said.
"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," he told the Liverpool Echo.
2-year-old Isaac, whose mum Sarah Stephens died suddenly at home (Paul Stephens)"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."
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But by the time the ambulance arrived, Sarah's condition had deteriorated. "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 added.
Paul paid tribute to his "absolutely amazing and incredibly strong" daughter. He said at the tender age of six, Sarah made a "miraculous recovery" from cancer thanks to experimental treatment, though she did lose a leg in the process.
He said: "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 leaves behind three children – 15-year-old Brooke, 11-year-old Kourtney, and two-year-old Isaac. Paul described her as a "brilliant mum who lived for her kids".
Due to her age, Sarah did not have life insurance – leaving her family struggling to foot the costs for her funeral. Isaac is now living with Paul and his wife Susan, but financial worries loom. Paul told the Echo: "We've just got Isaac into a nursery which is a huge cost while we've 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.
"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."
Amidst the devastation, Paul said he had received an outpouring of support, with around 50 people attending a balloon release in her honour last Friday night and hundreds of pounds already donated to a GoFundMe page. And when asked what he wanted his daughter's legacy to be, Paul said: "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."
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