A much-loved mother has died in her sleep at home after developing coronavirus symptoms – and today her youngest son is fighting for his life in hospital after being exposed.
Linda Tuppen, from Greater Manchester, was found lifeless by her eldest son Rob, 28, last Saturday – five days after she began to feel unwell.
The 66-year-old had been caring for her son Rob, who contracted coronavirus after returning from Krakow earlier in the month, before falling ill herself.
Linda’s youngest son James, 23, was admitted to hospital with coronavirus on Sunday, where he is still fighting the killer bug.
Linda Tuppen, from Greater Manchester, was found dead in her bed by one of her children last Saturday – five days after she began to feel unwell. Her son James 23, (pictured together), is now in hospital fighting coronavirus too
Linda Tuppen’s death comes as:
- UK saw its biggest increase in coronavirus deaths yesterday with 563 confirmed
- The total number of deaths in Britain is 2,352 with 29,474 confirmed cases
- British Airways temporarily laid of 36,000 staff with most flights grounded
- Questions raised over Cheltenham Festival after celebrities picked up virus
- The FCA has urged banks to give those struggling a £500 interest-free overdraft
- There were 950,000 new claims for Universal Credit in the past two weeks
Linda began complaining of a chest infection on March 23, the day the Prime Minister imposed a lockdown, and her symptoms escalated to pain in her sinuses, causing her to stay in bed all day the following Thursday and Friday.
Her son, software engineer Rob, of Bolton, pictured together, found his mother dead in bed
Her son, software engineer Rob, of Bolton, was so concerned for his mother he called 111.
But Linda, a much-loved former teacher and nursery nurse, refused to speak to them and said she just wanted to sleep.
Tragically, he went to check on her the next morning and found that she had passed away.
Rob, 28, said: ‘I was in a panic, she was just lay there, and I shouted ‘mum, mum,’ but she didn’t answer.
‘I was doing chest compressions until the ambulance came. I was still in the room when he came over and said she was gone.
‘It’s devastating, we lost our father in 2008, so we’re pretty much on our own now.
‘She was a kind, loving lady who adored me and James and would have done anything for us. She always used to say that we are were her lives. She would do anything for anyone.’
Rob revealed his mother had suffered with asthma before she passed away.
He said: ‘This is serious. This is not a joke, this could happen to anyone. They were fine when I came back, but then I got ill, and they’ve picked it up off me because my mum was looking after me while I was ill. She was putting a cloth over her mouth but it obviously didn’t work.’
Linda Tuppen, 66, of Astley Bridge, Manchester, tragically passed away just days after complaining of coronavirus symptom. She died in her sleep
At its peak, Rob described feeling so exhausted by coronavirus he would almost black out walking from his bed to his door.
He said: ‘Your temperature is sky high, so you’re constantly freezing cold and shivering, then other times you’re basically roasting hot and you have to take your coat off.
‘You have a really high fever and I was constantly freezing cold in bed or roasting to the point where I just had to take all my clothes off because I was that hot.
‘The cough is really bad, when you’re coughing you feel like you can’t stop. Your body aches and even the smallest of tasks, like going to the toilet, is one of the hardest things you can do.
‘It got to the point where I was really dehydrated and I couldn’t eat for a week. And because I wasn’t eating, when I stood up I felt like I was going to pass out.
‘I would have to run from the toilet to my room, which is about five steps, because I felt like I was going to black out.’
Pooja Sharma, pictured left, died of coronavirus just 24 hours after her father Sudhir, pictured right, also lost his life to the disease
The UK saw its highest increase in coronavirus deaths so far yesterday, with the number of victims jumping from 1,789 to 2,352.
Heartbreaking stories of people dying in hospital alone, with their families banned from visiting them over fears of spreading the virus further, are emerging across the country.
This week, a 13-year-old boy called Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, from Brixton, South London, became the youngest person to die after testing positive for COVID-19.
Last week it emerged a Heathrow immigration officer died just one day after his pharmacist daughter.
Wendy Jacobs, 58, was headteacher at Roose Primary School in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and died after testing positive for the virus on March 23
Sudhir Sharma, 61 who worked at Terminal 3, passed away on March 22 before pharmacist Pooja, 32, suffered the same tragic fate the following day, The Sun reported.
Tributes were also paid to Wendy Jacobs, the headteacher at Roose Primary School in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, who died the same day as Pooja. She was 58 and not believed to have any underlying health conditions.
A fundraising page has been set up to help Rob and James through this devastating time. You can donate HERE.
