A heartbroken mum who woke to find her partner dead by her side says the kids now sleep with her to make sure she doesn't die too.
Amelia Townson, 29, from Wrexham in North Wales, had been with partner Damien Jones, 30, for nine years - and although he suffered from epilepsy, he always seemed like the picture of health.
But last May he began to suffer from breathing difficulties and went to A&E with his concerns - but doctors told him he had a muscle injury caused by exercise.
However, Damien's condition didn't improve and, when he went to bed two days later, he didn't wake up. Despite his long-term partner's best efforts to revive him, nothing worked.
Amelia said: “I began CPR on Damien, willing him to wake up. The children were watching as I tried to revive him for almost 20 minutes, as we waited for the ambulance. It was horrific for them.”
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Damien was rushed to hospital but tragically, he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Despite the shock and grief of losing her love so suddenly, Amelia said the family's last night together was perfect.
“His final words to me, the night before he passed, were: ‘I love you,’ and we’d watched a film in bed with the kids, so we had a lovely evening, all together. That is such a comfort to me," Amelia said.
She added: “We have a huge bed, and the two kids were sleeping in the middle of us. We had such a lovely last night, all together.”
During the nine years Amelia and Damien were together, they suffered their fair share of heartache.
After deciding to try for a baby, the pair went through eight devastating miscarriages, and their first daughter Ava-May was stillborn in June 2014.
Amelia says: “We were devastated by each miscarriage and Damien took it very badly. The loss of our daughter was especially tough."
She added Damien used exercise as a way of coping with the loss.
Just as they were about to give up on having a family, they welcomed their son David into the world in May 2015, followed soon after by their daughter Esme-Rose.
Amelia said: “We were thrilled to become parents at last. Damien was like a big kid himself; he just loved being a dad. We were such a happy little family.”
But when Damien suddenly died, Amelia and the kids were devastated and looking for answers.
Nearly a year after Damien was buried next to Ava-May, Amelia has finally learned he died from undiagnosed heart conditions, cardiac arrhythmia and stenotic coronary artery atheroma.
She said: "We waited nine months to find out why Damien died. It’s a huge shock. He seemed so fit and healthy and was always in the gym."
Amelia also revealed the kids now sleep in bed with her just in case tragedy strikes again, like it did with their dad.
“Since his death the kids insist on sleeping with me because they worry that they might lose me during the night, as they lost their dad. My son is only six yet he feels a responsibility to protect me and it breaks my heart,” she said.
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“It’s been very hard. The children are in counselling, they sleep with me each night, and my son feels he has to look after me in case he loses me too.
“He tells me that now daddy is gone, he will marry me when he is older. It is truly heart-breaking.
“I miss Damien so much, but I have to keep going for the sake of our children, and it is a comfort that he lives on, through them.”
