Mother-of-three Sarah Healey tragically suffered a cardiac arrest during her eulogy to her children's grandfather. Her family said life will 'never be the same' - with her loss being a 'terrible blow' to them all.
Ms Healey was an NHS Nurse from Staines, who, according to her family, had no history of heart trouble. Sarah had been attending the funeral of her father-in-law, Roy West, with her already grieving husband: James, along with their three children aged 16, seven and six.
Speaking to the mail online Ms Healey's mother, Gladys Healey, of Flintshire, said: 'Sarah was one of those who spoke in tribute to the father of James.' However, Sarah suddenly fell to the ground during her eulogy. 'It seems that Sarah had suffered an attack of arrhythmia or a cardiac arrest. She had no history of any heart trouble and we were all devastated by her sudden death.'
Mrs Healey continued: 'It was a terrible blow to our family. It was a blow to her partner, who had just lost his own father. 'It was a blow to the three young children left behind and it was a blow to her dad, Dave, I and Sarah's younger sister, Trisha, who was at the ceremony with us.'
Ms Healey was a registered nurse and a highly qualified prescriber who had moved on to specialise in oncology and the treatment of cancer patients.
She was also developing her own aesthetics business and had a significant clientele at her clinic, Sarah Healey Aesthetics at Thames Valley Athletics Centre in Eton. Her sister, Trisha Healey, said: 'Losing my older and only sister has been the hardest thing I have ever experienced. 'I spoke to her daily and we had an extremely close bond that only sisters will experience. 'Life will never be the same but I find planning things with friends, talking and crying when you need to with no shame has helped.'
The news of Sarah Hailey's Death spread rapidly on social media due to the circumstances surrounding it. Hailey was young, fit, and had no history of heart disease. She had one event, so catastrophic, so severe that it instantly took her life.
But the mail online implied that her death was perfectly ordinary. They even helpfully published a little 'explainer' on what happened which read: 'A cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops pumping blood around the body, which is usually due to a problem with electrical signals in the organ. This causes the brain to be starved of oxygen, which results in sufferers not breathing and losing consciousness. In the UK, more than 30,000 cardiac arrests occur a year outside of hospital, compared to over 356,000 in the US.
Cardiac arrests are different to heart attacks, with the latter occurring when blood supply to the heart muscle is cut off due to a clot in one of the coronary arteries. Common causes include heart attacks, heart disease and heart muscle inflammation. Giving an electric shock through the chest wall via a defibrillator can start the heart again. In the meantime, CPR can keep oxygen circulating around the body.'
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