When she was 24, my daughter, and Colin's baby sister Charmaine suffered a stroke leaving her partially paralysed. Despite this, she tried so very hard to carry on with life as it had been. Sadly she was never able to return to her job as a carer which broke her heart, but not as much as 18 months later when her baby boy Jamie was born sleeping 19 weeks into her pregnancy.

She suffered many more setbacks in her short life which she fought bravely with determination to live as much of a 'normal life' as possible.

In October 2022 she was delighted to find out that she was going to get another chance to become a mummy! Charmaine was having regular scans and happily got to hear her baby's heartbeat on several occasions. On 30th January she was admitted to Furness General Hospital with complications where she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and rushed to St Mary's Hospital in Manchester that evening.

On 2nd February her baby girl Elsieyah was delivered by emergency caesarian section at 23 weeks and 5 days. Weighing just 415g Elsieyah was taken immediately to SCBU and placed on a ventilator before Charmaine even had a chance to hold her.

Charmaine started to improve after delivery but was unable to meet Elsieyah until 2 days later when knowing her precious baby girl was not going to make it she was able to hold her just 2 hours before she passed away at just over 55 hours old leaving Charmaine a mummy to an angel once again.

By this time Charmaine was also suffering from persistent infections, having course after course of IV antibiotics and blood transfusions.

On Saturday 11th February she was taken to theatre to find out where the infections were coming from. By this time her kidneys and liver had stopped working properly and it was discovered that her heart was not pumping blood properly so a balloon was inserted.

Sadly this wasn't successful and after her heart stopping numerous times through the night, on the last occasion they were unable to bring her back.

At 5.30am on Sunday 12th February 2023 our hearts were broken forever when our beautiful Charmaine went to sleep forever at just 28. Our only consolation is knowing that she is now resting forever with her 2 angel babies.

The purpose of this page is to raise money to help towards the cost of Charmaine's funeral which we have not yet been able to hold due to having to wait for her post-mortem and her and Elsieyah being brought back to Barrow.

Charmaine and Elsieyah's funeral will be held on 24th March. We know times are very hard for everyone right now but if anyone can spare even £1 to help towards the cost we will be forever grateful.

Any money left over will be donated to The Stroke Foundation and St Mary's Baby Unit.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story and in advance for any donations.

Sylvia and Col