A "bubbly" woman with a "beautiful heart" died after having said she was "feeling much better" while talking with her partner on Facetime.
Allison Lawlor, 49, had been in and out of hospital over the past few years with functional neurological disorder (FND) which was like she "didn't have a working immune system".
And after going into hospital in July this year with an infection having become forgetful, partner Paul Gallacher said it was "just like any other time", reported the Liverpool Echo.
Then she suddenly deteriorated after a video call with her partner at 11.30pm to say goodnight, which was something she hadn't managed to do up until then that week.
Paul had planned to visit her the following morning, on July 25, but an hour after speaking to her, he received a devastating phone call from the hospital.
At around 1am Paul was told Allison had "taken a bad turn" and despite managing to resuscitate her, she had been left brain damaged.
Paul told the ECHO: "The last hour I spent with her, she wasn't Allison anymore. She didn't die from the infection, she died from a pulmonary embolism. It shouldn't have happened, it was completely out of the blue."
Allison and Paul met 17 years ago on an online dating website where they "bonded immediately". Being from Woolton, she visited him in Scotland where he was living at the time, and "the rest was history".
Having lived together in Scotland for several years, the pair eventually moved to Liverpool in 2007 and gradually Paul became Allison's carer when she became ill.
For a few years she began to suffer from non-epileptic seizures and almost complete numbness in her body. She couldn't eat or drink or use the bathroom without help.
Then around a year ago she eventually was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder.
Paul said: "I was watching a documentary series set in Liverpool hospitals a couple of years ago and it made me think that's what she had because these people had the same (FND) symptoms.
"But even when she had seizures in front of doctors they were stumped as she was fully aware while having them. I had to keep picking away to see a specialist and they had to rule out other causes such as MS before concluding she had FND. It's a long journey."
Paul, who now lives in Allerton, said her partner was a "very kind person with a beautiful heart who would do anything she could to help others."
He said: "She was very bubbly, loved make-up and animals. We had hamsters and guinea pigs who she absolutely adored. She loved nature. When she was in a better place, we went to a lot of places, she loved visiting Llandudno and always loved going back to Scotland."
But after the funeral costs were more than Paul was able to afford, and not being eligible for financial support or any family left to help, close friend Giselle Hyams set up a fundraising page to her cover the £2,500 costs. The fundraising link can be found here.
According to the Brain Charity, the causes of FND is unknown, but common symptoms can include difficulty moving, problems balancing, tingling sensations or twitches in the body, headaches, migraines or dizziness, changes in eyesight or pain that can be hard to locate, combined with tiredness.
