A family has been left devastated after a 20-year-old new mother was found dead in her bed having suffered a suspected heart attack as she slept.
Caitlin Faulder, 20, was living at home with her parents Kellie and John Faulder, and her baby daughter, five-month-old Poppy, when she was found unresponsive in her bed.
Sister, Charlotte Faulder said: “She was so young, and she has left a five-month-old baby. Everyone is heartbroken.”
Charlotte said Caitlin, had been complaining of “a pain in her heart” for a few months. The young mum had been to see her doctor. 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 she said that didn’t happen.
“When she went to the doctors, all they kept saying was ‘everything is normal, everything is fine, your blood pressure is fine’. On Saturday night, she was absolutely fine – she was dancing and enjoying being with her daughter.
“She was the absolute life of the party. She danced every day – she loved Ed Sheeran and all kinds of music, especially Christmas music. 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.”
The family knew something was wrong when Caitlin’s dad heard baby Poppy crying early on Sunday. Charlotte said: “Caitlin’s bedroom is downstairs and my dad came down and shouted to her, ‘Caitlin, Poppy’s crying, wake up’. But she wouldn’t wake up, he found her deceased in her bed
“He rang for the ambulance and my little sister, who’s only 14, came downstairs to see what was happening. He grabbed the baby and gave her to my sister; he had the phone and he tried to do CPR on Caitlin.
“The ambulance came and they said, ‘we think she had a heart attack in her sleep’. It would have been peaceful, she wouldn’t have felt anything. My dad has heart failure as well, so he had to be checked over and everything.”
Charlotte has launched a GoFundMe page. It reads: “On Sunday 19 November, my beloved sister Caitlin Faulder sadly passed away early hours in her sleep. She was only 20 years of age and a wonderful mother to her 5-month-old daughter Poppy. 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. Thank you all so much, she will always be in our hearts.”