Two siblings have been left heartbroken after their mother died on New Year's Eve - just months after they lost their nana.
Jaimie King was found unconscious at her flat in Hendon, Sunderland, on Thursday. The 45-year-old was rushed to hospital where medics confirmed she has suffered a bleed on the brain.
Her children Rhianna Stevens, 25, and Dan Stevens, 27, were given the devastating news that her condition was not survivable. They gathered by her bedside on Saturday, December 31 as her life machine was turned off and she passed away.
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Just months earlier, Jaimie lost her mother Lynne King, 62, after she suffered heart attack. She had moved into Lynne's flat to help care for her disabled brother Liam Macdonald, 34, and collapsed while at the property.
Rhianna, who is mum to two-year-old Abel, said: "It was New Year's Day when she passed. I was lying in the bath when the fireworks were going off and I was just sobbing. We just never expected it, it was so sudden.
"A few hours earlier, I had been talking to her as normal and the next minute she was gone. It was so hard to watch it happen with my nana. To watch it happen all over again was horrible.
"Abel spent a lot of time with my nana and my mam. My nana used to look after Abel for two days a week while I was working. Then my mam would help me look after him while I was at work. We were there just a few hours before it happened.
"They were his best friends and now both of them are gone. I can tell he doesn't understand what's going on."
Rhianna said they previously lost their dad Michael Martinez seven years ago. The 46-year-old died after suffering a heart attack while on holiday in Benidorm, Spain, with his friends.
She said Lynne had also spent years grieving for the loss of her children Leanne and Graham. She said: "My nana's death affected my mam really bad. My nana, my uncle and my mam have had a really tough life.
"My nana had four children and she lost two kids in the space of a year. Leanne was knocked over by a bus when she was 15 years old and she died. One year later, when Graham was 15, he was killed in a car accident. My nana has always been sad about that and so had my mam and my uncle."
Lynne, who helped a local cat charity called Feline Friends, suffered a second heart attack in August last year, after previously recovering from one in 2020. She was treated at Sunderland Royal Hospital before being transferred to St Benedict's Hospice in Ryhope. Seven days after arriving to the hospice, she lost her life.
Rhianna, who works as a customer service agent, said: "She used to look after lots of cats and a cat came into her room at the hospice and jumped on the bed. She took her last breath with the cat and me on the bed with her. It was so surreal. I just couldn't believe it when the cat came in."
Lynne lived in a flat below her son Liam, who suffered a bleed on the brain after being attacked 13 years ago. Jaimie moved into Lynne's flat when she passed away so she could help her brother going forward.
Rhianna said her mam wasn't feeling very well on Christmas Day but there was no indication that she was going to fall seriously ill. Dan and his friend found her unconscious at the flat four days later and called an ambulance.
Jaimie was placed in intensive care at South Tyneside District Hospital in South Shields in a critical condition. Sadly doctors were unable to save her life and her family were told to say goodbye. The machine, which was keeping her alive, was turned off just before 6pm on New Year's Eve.
Rhianna, who followed the ambulance to the hospital, said: "I thought she would wake up. They (doctors) said the bleed on the brain was to do with her blood pressure. They said the bleed on the brain was not survivable and there wasn't going to be a good outcome from it.
"We gathered what family members we have left to say goodbye and took the machine off. She was gone within a minute-and-a-half. It was really, really fast."
Rhianna said her mam did not have life insurance and they do not have the funds needed to cover the cost of her funeral. She set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money and has already received more than £3,700 in donations.
She added: "There's only me, my brother and my uncle left. We have got none of our parents or grandparents left. It's horrible, you don't expect that to happen when you're so young.
"I set up a Go Fund Me page but I wasn't expecting a lot from it. I never expected anywhere near that amount to be raised at all. Money has been donated by family, friends and some people that we don't even know. It really is heart-warming."
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