A heartbroken mum has spoken of her devastation after her “healthy” 24-year-old daughter died suddenly from a brain aneurysm.
Vicki Roberts said her life was “shattered forever” when her daughter, Chloe, collapsed at her home and never woke up.
The mum-of-one had been feeling unwell in the days leading up to her death and believed she was suffering from a chest infection.
She had also been complaining about headaches, but blamed her glasses.
In November last year, Vicki, 42, received a call while she was looking after Chloe’s daughter, Nancy, four, saying that she had collapsed.
“Chloe was feeling a bit poorly, but we just thought it was a chest infection because she had a cough,” Vicki, from Hereford, Herefordshire, told Need to Know.
“She got some antibiotics.
“I spoke to her on and off throughout the day, then I put my granddaughter to bed at 6.30pm.
“At 7pm, I had a phone call from my daughter’s new boyfriend saying she wasn’t breathing.
“I said, ‘Yeah, right, you’re joking’.
“He showed me the emergency services working on her so I knew it was real.”
Paramedics worked on Chloe for around an hour at the scene before managing to restart her heart so she could be taken to the hospital.
But Chloe never regained consciousness.
Vicki said: “I met the ambulance at the hospital, and they took her straight in while we waited in the relatives’ room.
“It felt like the longest wait of my life.
“She had a CT scan, and then they told me she had had a brain aneurysm that had popped and caused a massive bleed on the brain.
“There was nothing they could do.
“They let me kiss her before they took her as I said it might be my last time.
“I couldn’t believe my baby girl had gone.
“She never had any health issues.
“Just a few headaches now and again but we put it down to her eyesight and she got different glasses.”
Vicki had to break the devastating news to Nancy, and now she lives with her full-time.
She said: “It broke my heart.
“I had to tell her she was never going to see her mummy again, which broke her little heart.
“Chloe was only 24.
“She had just started a new relationship, and she was happy.
“Chloe was starting life again.
“Never in a million years did I ever think she would be gone before me.
“Walking out of the hospital knowing my baby girl was gone was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Vicki said Chloe had “a heart of gold” and was loved by everyone who knew her.
She said: “Life without her is not the same.
“It’s way too quiet, and I miss her voice.
“Her daughter is the double of her mummy and very noisy like her.
“It still doesn’t feel real, and I’m still waiting for her to ring me, but I know that’s never going to happen.
“My daughter was bubbly, had a heart of gold.
“She would help anyone and everyone.
“Her smile lit up any room she went into, and she had a lot of friends.
“Chloe loved singing, and her favourite was Adele.
“We played a clip of her singing at her funeral.
“She was adored by all her family, especially her daughter, and they loved spending time together.”
