A mum described as the "“life and soul of the party” has been remembered by her sister after her sudden death just weeks before her wedding.
Michelle Moore, was diagnosed with stage four gallbladder cancer in September last year and upon finding out it was terminal, she and her family began planning her last 12 to 24 months of life.
However, the family had no idea their time together would be cut much shorter, Lancs Live reported.
Michelle's 17-year-old daughter called an ambulance after seeing her mum becoming progressively ill on June 4. She was then admitted to hospital and died the following night after developing sepsis.
Michelle's three children Brooke 20, Ellie-Mae, 17 and LJ, 12 were starting to come to terms with the loss loss of their dad, Michelle's ex-partner, who also died from sepsis two years ago.
As the oldest of 12 siblings, 40-year-old Michelle shared a close relationship with her family and her abrupt death was a shock to them all as they weren’t able to visit her during her last night due to Covid restrictions.
Her sister, Stephanie Jefferson, 36 said: “ We’re heartbroken and the whole family is just in shock.
“We definitely understood the diagnosis, and what was going to happen we just didn’t expect it to have gone like that.
“We didn’t expect her to get sepsis, go to hospital and nobody would be able to see her.”
During her final hours, it was only her mother who could be there to say goodbye to her daughter.
After receiving her diagnosis, Michelle was able to come to terms with it quickly and began making arrangements for the rest of her year.
Michelle and her fiancé Ash were due to be married in August after five years of being together but the couple never got their chance.
As well as plans for the funeral and her wedding, Michelle had to plan how her three children would be looked after after she was gone.
The children, Brooke, Ellie-Mae and LJ, who had also lost their dad to sepsis two years ago now live with auntie Stephanie who says they never really came to terms with what happened to him.
“They’ve not dealt with their dad yet,” she said. “It feels like they just need to be able to deal with some stuff.
“When their dad died, we went into Covid and now it’s almost like they’re not in touch with the reality of everything that’s happened yet.”
Being the oldest sibling meant Michelle was there for all of her brothers and sisters.
Stephanie said: “She was really protective. She was so protective of everybody.”
Michelle’s funeral, held on June 22 showcased her love for festivals with balloons, garlands and wristbands handed out to each guest.
As part of her funeral, to symbolise Michelle's life in Blackpool, the family were able to get the tower lit up in honour of her and as a perfect way to display her humour, Michelle picked ‘Fire’ by Kasabian as her last song.
More than two hundred guests turned up to pay their respects to the family and say goodbye to Michelle but due to Covid, they weren't able to go inside the crematorium.
The family, along with Michelle set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money to help support the family which helped pay for a large amount of the funeral costs and to raise awareness of gallbladder cancer in hopes that others may recognise it sooner. The page is still active to accept donations.
