A bride-to-be has suddenly died from sepsis to the shock of her fiancé, who thought she was suffering from "womens problems."
Kirsten Martin met Ant Johnston at work and the couple lived together in Penwortham, Lancashire. The pair got engaged two months ago and planned on tying the knot in November of this year. But just before Christmas, Kirsten, 38, began developing crippling stomach pains with no signs of improvement. Staying in the Royal Preston Hospital over Christmas, her fiancé Ant explained to Lancashire Live that she was put into an induced coma on the evening of Boxing Day.
This was the last time her partner and dad, Allan, were able to speak to her before she unexpectedly passed away on January 9. Ant said: "She was having problems with her belly, but me and Kirsten just thought it was woman's problems and she was always putting a hot water bottle on it. It was only for a week or so before we went to hospital.
"We live on a Progress Housing estate, but we own our house and two weeks before she went into hospital, around December 17, she didn't turn up for work. Now I've never not been able to get hold of her and I couldn't get hold of her. All I was thinking back then, was 'it her appendix'?"
Luckily, a friend went round to their home and found Kirsten awake but in a bad way, so she called 111 for further advice. Two days later, Kirsten was showing no signs of improvement and Ant decided to take her to hospital to rule out anything sinister. After being admitted to hospital, she was kept in overnight and monitored by medical experts who were unable to determine the problem.
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Ant continued: "We went to see her on Christmas Day, me and her dad because we were going every day. Went to see her, just to say hello and gave her some small gifts. The next morning we got a phone call to say, don't come into the hospital yet, she's struggling with her breathing. They had to ventilate her and put her into an induced coma. From there, she was up and down like a rollercoaster. On Boxing Day, we were told she wouldn't make it through the night, but she did and beat the odds."
Kirsten Martin in an undated photo (Ant Johnston)With Kirsten going from bad to worse, Ant and her family were told on January 2 that she most likely wouldn't live beyond 48 hours. Ant says his fiancée had an infection which resulted in sepsis - a serious condition in which the body responds improperly to an infection. As a result, her body was starved of oxygen and her organs failed.
In the weeks after her death, Kirsten's family and friends are looking to raise money for her funeral costs and have set up a GoFundMe page in her name. The funds will go towards her celebration of life, to support her dad Allan and fiancé Ant who had only enjoyed a relationship with Kirsten for the past 18 months.
"We realised how similar we are, I've been brought up abroad and she had been brought up abroad!" Ant explained. "We had been talking way before we got into a relationship, just being ourselves. We just agreed one day, you know what let's do this."
With their wedding planned for November and holidays booked throughout the year, the couple were excited to spend a future together. Ant said: "It's just messed up how life can be taken that quickly, just from your own body going wrong. You never expect it do you?" Kirsten's funeral will take place on Friday, February 2 at Preston Crematorium at 11.15am. The wake will then take place at the Brown Hare at around 12.30pm. The family do not wish for any flowers to be brought to the funeral, but donations can be made to charity Mind.
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