Jess Hardiman
A young mum who was excitedly planning her five-month-old baby’s first Christmas tragically died in her sleep, with her ‘heartbroken’ family saying the sudden death came as a huge ‘shock’.
Caitlin Faulder, 20, was living at home with her parents Kellie and John, and her baby daughter Poppy, when she was found unresponsive in bed in the early hours of Sunday 19 November.
It’s believed she may have had a heart attack in her sleep, having been complaining of a ‘pain in her heart’ for a few months.
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Caitlin, of Gipsyville, Kingston upon Hull, had been to get checked out by doctors, but was repeatedly told that everything was ‘normal’.
Her sister Charlotte, 19, told Hull Live: “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."
However, she said that didn't happen, adding: “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 is completely devastated by the loss, with Charlotte saying: “She was so young, and she has left a five-month-old baby. Everyone is heartbroken.”
She continued to recall how dad Jon was alerted to Poppy’s crying early on Sunday morning.
“Caitlin’s bedroom is downstairs and my dad came down and shouted to her, ‘Caitlin, Poppy’s crying, wake up,’” she said.
“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.”
The family have now set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for Caitlin’s funeral costs, saying in the description that she was a ‘wonderful mother’ to little 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,” they said.
“Thank you all so much, she will always be in our hearts.”
Charlotte said they hope to raise £4,000 to give her the ‘best send-off' they can do, although can’t make detailed plans for the funeral until a post-mortem has been carried out.
So far, they’ve managed to exceed their target with an incredible £4,736.