A YOUNG mum couldn't wait to spend her first Christmas with her daughter and had already bought and wrapped all the newborn's presents.
But Caitlin Faulder, 20, was found unresponsive in bed this month, leaving her family reeling in grief.
The mum, who lived at home with her parents and baby in Gipsyville, East Yorkshire, passed away in her sleep from a suspected heart attack on Sunday November 19.
She'd given birth to her daughter Poppy only five months prior and had complained of “a pain in her heart”.
But Caitlin was assured by doctors that "everything is fine", her sister Charlotte, 19, told Hull Live.
The heartbroken family described Caitlin as "the absolute life of the party" who danced every day and loved Christmas music and songs by Ed Sheeran.
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The young mother had been to see a doctor about the pain in her chest after experiencing it for a few months.
Charlotte said: “When she was pregnant she had an ECG, which showed an abnormality, but they didn’t think it was anything to worry about.
"She was going to have an echo-scan when Poppy was six weeks old."
But according to Charlotte, this never happened.
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“When she went to the doctors, all they kept saying was ‘everything is normal, everything is fine, your blood pressure is fine’," she added.
"On Saturday night, she was absolutely fine – she was dancing and enjoying being with her daughter.
"She was going to put her Christmas tree up this week and had already bought her Christmas presents for her daughter and had wrapped them up.”
Charlotte said their dad John was woken up by Poppy crying early on Sunday morning and went downstairs to Caitlin's bedroom to see what was going on.
He shouted into the room, "Caitlin, Poppy’s crying, wake up", but received no response.
To his shock, John found his daughter dead in her bed.
As he rang an ambulance, Caitlin's sister Jasmine, 14, came downstairs.
John handed her the baby and tried to perform CPR on his daughter.
When the ambulance team arrived, the family was told Caitlin had probably had a heart attack in her sleep.
"It would have been peaceful, she wouldn’t have felt anything," Charlotte said.
She noted that heart issues ran in family, as John had also suffered from heart failure and their grandfather had passed away from a heart attack.
The family has launched a GoFundMe page to make arrangement's for Caitlin's funeral.
Charlotte described her beloved sister as "a wonderful mother to her five-month-old daughter Poppy", adding "she will always be in our hearts".
"We are just asking for a little bit of help with her funeral as it was a big shock and we would really appreciate the help," she said.
So far, over £4,500 has been donated to the family.
Charlotte told HullLive that while Caitlin didn’t have much money, she spent every penny she had on her daughter.
Now the family hope to give her "the best send-off" possible.
Symptoms of a heart attack
The British Heart Foundation notes that symptoms of a heart attack vary by gender.
It said women are less likely to experience the 'typical' signs of the health emergency.
Instead, they may have:
- Chest pain or discomfort in your chest that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away – it may feel like pressure, tightness or squeezing that could spread to one or both of your arms, your neck, jaw, back or stomach
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing with or without chest discomfort
- Feeling dizzy, light-headed or faint
- Feeling sick, indigestion, being sick
- Sweating or a cold sweat
- A sudden feeling of anxiety that can feel like a panic attack
- A lot of coughing or wheezing
If you think you're having a heart attack, you should:
- Call 999 for an ambulance
- Sit down and stay calm
- Chew 300mg aspirin if you have it and you're not allergic
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