A woman has said her mother was 'ravaged' by coronavirus in 'a matter of hours' as she was rushed to hospital.
Devastated Candice Blythe said she never imagined the final time she ever laid eyes on mum Anne, would be in the back of an ambulance as the doors closed.
The mum-of-three had been surprised by daughters Candice and Louise, 37, for an early Mother's Day meal on March 14, but by the following week was showing early symptoms of the virus including a cough and fatigue.
Despite initially appearing to get better, Anne, 58, was later rushed to hospital and after five days in Harlow's Princess Alexandra Hospital Anne took a turn for the worse.
On the morning of Friday, April 3, doctors were forced to increase her ventilator oxygen levels to 100 per cent - and by 7pm the same day, she had had died from multi-organ failure.
Paying tribute to her much-loved 'beautiful and kind' mum, Candice, who appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning, is now begging Brits to take the pandemic seriously.
The credit controller said: "You just don't think it's going to hit you, and then it just comes along and throws you this massive, devastating curveball.
"I never believed or thought for a moment that when the paramedics were shutting the door on me as I waved goodbye to my mum in the back of an ambulance it would be the last time I ever saw her.
"For the first five days in hospital her condition was stable and we were all feeling hopeful.
"But by Friday she had done a 180 turn, she was on the maximum amount of oxygen they could give her and the hospital staff were telling us there was nothing they could do to save her.\
"Every single one of her organs was failing.
"By 7pm that day she had died, that's all it took to ravage her body from the inside out - a matter of hours.
"I know people lose their parents eventually, but in normal circumstances you would be able to be at their bedside and say goodbye to them.
"We didn't get any of that and my mum was still so young.
"Our 88-year-old nan has outlived her own daughter, she's absolutely beside herself."
Candice lived at home with her mum to help care for her sister, Louise, who was left disabled by a brain tumour at 18 months old, and her mum, who had chronic back pain.
Anne's youngest daughter was prompted to call the ambulance when she went to check on her mum in the morning and found her lips were blue but her body was red, hot and blotchy, despite her complaining she felt cold.
Even with those alarming symptoms, Candice said she wasn't overly worried about Covid-19 as her mum was still her usual self - joking with the paramedics to 'get off her carpets' with their boots on.
But concerned the 58-year-old could have coronavirus, the ambulance crew wouldn't let Candice travel to hospital with her mum, and she was forced to leave Anne with just her mobile phone to keep in touch.
Three days later tests confirmed she had the virus and although her condition remained stable, Anne had been moved to a ward where there was no phone signal and the family were instead given daily updates by medics.
But after nearly a week of hopeful news her daughters received the devastating blow that their mum had been put on a ventilator and her organs were starting to shut down and she died just hours later.
As well as her devastated daughters, the gran-of-two leaves behind her own mum, Vally, 88, and five siblings - prompting Candice to beg Brits to take the government's self-isolation advice seriously.
Candice said: "She was such a beautiful, kind woman, everybody loved her and we were such a close family.
"We are absolutely broken.
"We are so grateful to the hospital staff and we are still trying to find out who was with her in her last moments so we can thank them for not letting her go on her own.
"I just didn't think this virus was going to get her, because she has been through and survived so much with her back and even survived a cervical cancer scare.
"We had plans to go to Vegas for her 60th next year and I still have all her Mother's Day cards up because I can't bring myself to take them down.
"I can understand that people feel like they are going stir crazy, but I would rather never see the sun on my face again and to have my mum for another 20 years.
"Is a bit of sunbathing really worth losing your loved ones for?
"I think people need to realise how serious it is before it hits them."
