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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Abigail Nicholson & Ryan Fahey

Mum dies weeks after collapsing in airport thinking she only had sunstroke on holiday

A "beautiful soul" and mum-of-three collapsed and died at Antalya Airport after slipping into coma.

Melissa Kinsella, 30, was on holiday with partner Jay Smith and their three young children when she suffered a heart attack on the day they were meant to fly home on May 15, Liverpool Echo reports.

But instead, Melissa, who's from Moreton in Merseyside, was rushed to a Turkish hospital, where medics told the family she had swelling on the brain and heart.

Nine days later, she was flown home in an air ambulance and taken to Arrowe Park Hospital.

On Friday May 26, Melissa passed away with the family receiving the devastating news that there was no brain activity, meaning she was clinically dead.

Now Melissa's mum Michelle Heathcote, 51, and her partner Steven, 52, have shared a heartbreaking tribute to their beloved daughter.

Speaking to The ECHO, Michelle said: "She lived for her girls, she was hard working, had a dirty laugh and she was such a good mummy. She had so much love for those girls.

"She was very hard working doing beauty and hair, she was a little whizzkid with the colours. She was so clever, she actually went to uni three times, trained to be an accountant but then got pregnant, then trained in nursing and got pregnant again before going back to beauty.

"She got 12 GCSEs and three and a half A-Levels. She was so dizzy, the girls in work used to call her messy Missy."

Steve shared a memory of his daughter when they were planning the holiday to Turkey.

He said: "When we started booking to go to Turkey we were all going together, Melissa, Jay, the kids, us and her in-laws, so we asked her where we were going as we used to go to Marmaris when she was a kid. She said 'we're going to Marmaris'."

He chuckled: "Anyway as it started getting closer she was sitting with her in-laws and they said 'we're going to Antalya'. We couldn't change the booking."

Michelle said: "When we were told she collapsed we travelled for four and a half hours in a taxi and it cost us £250. They [the hopsital] just kept asking for money and we were worried the credit card was going to run out.

Melissa and her parents Michelle and Steven (Family handout)

"I put up a post on Facebook and I never in a million years could have imagined the response. I thought people might tell me what to do but I was so overwhelmed and grateful."

Melissa was brought back to the UK with no medical notes and staff at Arrowe Park had to run multiple tests to see if Melissa had any brain activity. After three hours the family were called into a room and told initial tests showed their 30-year-old daughter had no brain activity.

Michelle said: "It was just so sad, we were all crying - her dad, me, and her sister were all crying. They said they would leave it until tomorrow to give her a chance but I think I knew then that she was brain dead.

"They told us she had registered to be an organ doner in 2022 with specific parts of her body. Even though it was beautiful, it was so surreal, they said we could come back and see her before she went down [for surgery] the next morning.

"When her dad came in the room the next day she moved, and I went to kiss her on the head and she moved again. Her dad made them run all of the tests again with him in the room but they said it was involuntary movements."

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