A "fun-loving" mum has tragically died from Covid-19 after spending five weeks in an induced coma.
Mum-of-ten Sharon Winsper thought that she just had a bad case of the cold when she first fell unwell in October.
However, when she started struggling to breathe, Sharon from Seaforth, Merseyside, was rushed to Aintree Hospital where she was placed into an induced coma after testing positive for coronavirus.
Liverpool Echo reports that her daughter, Kerry Read, said that her mum appeared to be recovering from the virus until she caught an infection and pneumonia and her condition "declined overnight".
Sharon sadly passed away on December 9 with her family by her bedside.
She leaves behind her ten children - Terry 35, Kerry, 32, Louise, 30, Sarah, 29, Kevin 27, Dale 25, Melissa, 21, James 20, Crystal, 19, and Angelica, 17.
The single mum moved from Birmingham to Liverpool ten years ago to live near the sea.
Kerry said: "She loved the beach. She wanted to be close to the sea and she thought it would be a nice idea for the kids to have that option to go to the beach whenever they wanted.
"She'd made so many friends in Liverpool because she was so kind-hearted.
"She couldn't do enough for anyone. She'd listen to anyone and she'd take on their problems."
Kerry said her mum loved having a big family and spoke to a lot of her children on a daily basis.
Kerry has set up a GoFundMe page to help bring her mum's body home to Birmingham from Liverpool, where she will be laid to rest in the same cemetery as her dad and stillborn daughter, Grace.
Kerry said: "She went into hospital on the 20th October, about a week before that she was ill but she didn't know it was covid until she went into hospital and they put her straight into a coma because she was struggling to breathe.
"She'd spent a week in bed prior to it but she just thought it was a bad cold.
"She didn't realise how serious it was until she got to the point where she was really struggling to breathe. An ambulance came and took her straight to hospital."
After spending five weeks in a coma, Kerry said her mum's condition appeared to be improving and she was taken out a coma in time for her 54th birthday, which she spent in ICU.
Kerry said: "She was responding to the antibiotics and they were able to reduce the oxygen she was having. She had a tracheostomy put in which was helping her to breathe.
"She started physio and they were getting her out of bed and putting her in a chair.
"It wasn't until the weekend of the 4th December she declined overnight, I think. She picked up another infection and pneumonia.
"It was a shock. We couldn't understand how and what had happened. We honestly thought we were going to have her home after Christmas.
"She was still in ICU at that point so we knew it was a long recovery but we thought we were over the worst."
Sharon's family were called into hospital to see her on December 8 and the following day they were told to say their goodbyes.
Kerry said: It's going to be hard not being able to wish her a merry Christmas.
"It's just a shock I think. We are finding it hard. With all the preparations it's something you'd phone your mum for to ask 'what do you think?' Then I remember it's my mum I'm doing it for."
Balloons are set to be released in memory of Sharon on Sunday, December 19, on Crosby Beach, just off Hall Road.
In a message on the fundraising page, Kerry was described as a "fun-loving, kind lady who befriended everyone she met."
All money raised will go towards the cost of the funeral and bringing Sharon's body back to Birmingham where she will be laid to rest.
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