A young mum who was excitedly planning her five-month-old baby's first Christmas tragically died in her sleep.
Caitlin Faulder, aged 20, was living with her parents, Kellie and John Faulder, and her baby daughter, Poppy, when she was found unresponsive in bed early on Sunday, November 19. It's believed she may have suffered a heart attack while sleeping at their home in Hull.
Her younger sister, Charlotte Faulder, 19, shared with Hull Live how devastated all their family and friends are at the loss of Caitlin. "She was so young," said Charlotte, "and she has left a five-month-old baby. Everyone is heartbroken."
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Charlotte revealed that Caitlin had been complaining of "a pain in her heart" for a few months. The young mum, who was looking forward to Christmas and returning to work at Costa Coffee in Hessle, had gone for checks, she said.
"When she was pregnant she had an ECG, which showed an abnormality, but they didn't think it was anything to worry about," said Charlotte, who also has siblings Chloe, 22, Joseph, who turned 18 last Friday, and Jasmine, 14. "She was going to have an echo-scan when Poppy was six weeks old." But that didn't happen, she added.
"When she went to the doctors, all they kept saying was 'everything is normal, everything is fine, your blood pressure is fine'. On Saturday night, she was absolutely fine she was dancing and enjoying being with her daughter.
"She was the absolute life of the party. She danced every day she loved Ed Sheeran and all kinds of music, especially Christmas music. She was going to put her Christmas tree up this week and had already bought her Christmas presents for her daughter and had wrapped them up."
Charlotte said her dad, John, was alerted to baby Poppy's crying early on Sunday. "Caitlin's bedroom is downstairs and my dad came down and shouted to her, 'Caitlin, Poppy's crying, wake up'. But she wouldn't wake up, he found her deceased in her bed.
"He rang for the ambulance and my little sister, who's only 14, came downstairs to see what was happening. He grabbed the baby and gave her to my sister; he had the phone and he tried to do CPR on Caitlin.
"The ambulance came and they said, 'we think she had a heart attack in her sleep'. It would have been peaceful, she wouldn't have felt anything. My dad has heart failure as well, so he had to be checked over and everything."
Charlotte, Caitlin's sister, has set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral costs. On the page, she wrote: "On Sunday 19th November, my beloved sister Caitlin Faulder sadly passed away early hours in her sleep. She was only 20 years of age and a wonderful mother to her 5 month old daughter Poppy. We are just asking for a little bit of help with her funeral as it was a big shock and we would really appreciate the help. Thank you all so much, she will always be in our hearts."
She also shared that they hope to raise £4,000 to give Caitlin "the best send-off we can do" and for "something in her memory for Poppy". Charlotte added: "Caitlin didn't have much money but every penny she did have went on her daughter."
The family is starting to plan Caitlin's funeral, but they can't make detailed plans until after a post-mortem has been carried out. "Caitlin wanted cremating but we are maybe looking at giving her a headstone in Hessle cemetery." Charlotte said.
"Caitlin loved Hessle. It will be somewhere for people to go and remember her.
"My grandad passed away three years ago from an acute heart attack. Caitlin said after he had passed, 'we've cried, now it's time to dance and remember him."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.
