'Healthy' Schoolgirl's Sudden Death Leaves Family Utterly Heartbroken

Harriet Dixon

The parents of a 15-year-old girl have told of their 'utter devastation' following her sudden death.

Harriet Dixon passed away she she collapsed at her family home last Friday (June 25).

The 15-year-old had been complaining about migraine pain since waking up that morning, her family said.

The incident saw her mum and dad, Eddie and Lisa Dixon, battle to revive their youngest child back North West Ambulance Paramedics took over.

Harriet, a pupil at St Gabriel’s RC School in Bury, was rushed to North Manchester General Hospital but medics were tragically unable to save her.

Following her death, Harriet's family have paid tribute to their daughter as they look for answers as to what exactly happened, the MEN reports.

Dad Eddie said: "We are just shell-shocked and utterly devastated that our funny, beautiful daughter is not with us anymore.

"Harriet woke up at 6.30am on Friday, saying she had a bad headache – but passed away later that day.

"We know she suffered a cardiac arrest, but we do not know what caused it.

"When a building collapses and people are missing – that’s a reason.

"If there’s an accident on a road, or a big car crash – there’s a reason.

"But at the moment we just keep asking ourselves: ‘Why?’"

The evening before she collapsed, Harriet had returned from school as usual.

But dad Eddie said she woke up with a headache, something they thought it "was one of her migraines because it had happened before".

"My wife and I checked on her, urged her to lie down and she had a sleep at lunchtime," Eddie said.

"But when she woke up around 2pm, she said she was in pain, that this was different."

"I thought of Covid straight away, so we did a test each, but both came back negative. Hattie did another one, but that was negative too."

Harriet's family rang 111 with operators dispatching an ambulance immediately.

Despite their best efforts, Eddie and Lisa were unable to save the youngster. They say doctors have since told them Harriet tested positive for Covid-19.

Words cannot express how we feel – Lisa is absolutely distraught," said Mr Dixon, whose older children Anna, 21, and Max, 19, are also struggling to come to terms with their loss.

"We were a family of five – we’re now a family of four – and there’s an empty seat at the table."

Mr. Dixon said Harriet was the cheekiest of their three children, who had a big circle of friends and was very close to her cousins and her grandmothers.

He said: "When she went out, she looked beautiful. She liked the camera and we have laughed and cried and laughed again when another photo of her crops up on people’s phones. We cannot believe she is no longer with us."

While the family await the results of post-mortem examination to discover why Harriet died, they are planning a funeral at Guardian Angels RC Church in Bury, although numbers will be limited due to Covid-19.


Story Credit; https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/healthy-schoolgirls-sudden-death-leaves-20927795


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