My mother died on Sunday,3rd of February,2002. Five months ago. I am a 25 year old 'orphan',that is because i think my father has passed away also. I have not seen or heard of him since i was 18 months old. My belevod Mum raised my four older brothers and I single handedly from then on. She was a fantastic mother,my best friend.
My Mum lived with my husband,my baby son and myself.When i moved out of home,Mum came too.That used to make her laugh that originally it was only Mum and I anyway, but when I moved out to go live with my husband,it took only a little while for Mum to move into our new house.We couldn't live apart,we were very close and as i said she was my best friend.
My Mum had emphysema,a hideous disease that ate away at her lungs so that she couldn't breath,she also was an asthmatic and required 2 hourly nebulisers,plus a host of other drugs that were not doing her any good. They just were not working.
Although my Mum was diagnosed with emphysema when i was about 14,and she and I knew it was going to eventually kill her,her death was a great shock. I woke in the night to hear a faint banging noise, which I thought was my dog banging the back door,only to soon realise it was my Mum, smashing a salt container on a table in her room to get our attention.
By the time i got in the room Mum was in a very bad way, gasping for breath.I immediatly rang an ambulance and called for my husband. By the time my husband got to my Mum's room,she had had a heart attack and died on the chair.
My husband and I immediatly pulled her onto the floor and my husband proceeded to give Mum C.P.R.I was frantically on the phone to the paramedics again screaming at them to hurry up.
In all they took a total of 25mins to get to my house which is approximatly 8mins from the ambulance depot. Mum never stood a chance and my husband kept saying he didnt feel like any breath was going in to her.
When the paramedics arrived they tried to revive Mum for another 5mins or so before giving her two shots of adrenaline that finally re-started her heart then they bagged her with a manual respitory pump and told me to follow them to the hospital.
Mum was taken to the resusitation room in the E.R, and we, my entire family were ushered to an anti-room with a social worker who kept telling us not to give up hope, that they wouldnt know any thing for 36 hrs,until they had tested for brain damage..... What a joke.
My brothers were all acting like there was still hope while my husband and I were trying to explain that my Mum had no oxygen for approximatly 35 minutes. She was severly brain damaged and was having seizures.
The next day,Sunday the 3rd of february 2002.My beloved Mum passed away,finally 5 hrs after her life support was turned off,with myself and my youngest brother,by her side.
Mum's funeral and the last 5 months have been a complete blur and there are days when i think my heart will break.
Im grateful Mum saw my son born and saw my marriage 3 months prior.
To Mum,Rest In Peace.
To the one who bears the sweetest name,and adds a lustre to the same.
Who shared our joys, who cheered when sad, the greatest friend i ever had.
Long peace to her, for there's no other, can take the place of My Dear Mother.
I love you Mum.xxxxxx Janet Hughe
Jenny Mitchelson
