A MOTHER has penned an emotional tribute to her young daughter who died unexpectedly while seven months’ pregnant.
Samantha Hardcastle, from Cudworth, was found dead in her bedroom in December 2004. She was just 25.
She had suffered with epilepsy since she was 16 and although she only had a couple of fits a year, a coroner told her mother and stepfather her death was due to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). Her unborn child also died.
Almost 14 years later, her mum Christine Carter has published a series of poems about Samantha, her grief and about her life now.
Christine, 55, said: “Sam was such a lovely girl, so full of life. Everyone who met her loved her. At her funeral, there were so many people they couldn’t all fit in the church. She was very popular and had lots of friends. It was such a massive loss.
“Writing this book has put me back in touch with some of her old friends which has been nice.”
Samantha lived with her partner Patrick, and had been training to be a nurse. But one morning while on holiday, Samantha had a seizure and hit her head. She was referred to a neurologist when she returned home but was told everything was fine. Just seven days before she died, Samantha had received a letter confirming the neurologists findings that everything was fine.
She was found by her family who had become worried when they couldn’t get in touch with her.
Christine said when they were told Samantha had died of SUDEP, they had never heard of it. They later discovered that she fitted six of the nine categories which made her high risk.
Christine, who now lives in Cambridgeshire, said: “It was really hard when we lost her, for a long time. I started writing things down to find an answer to my own grief. I was pouring my heart out on paper. I didn’t do anything with them because it was too hard, but recently I’ve started to feel like I could. I started writing and I couldn’t stop.
“I spoke to her friends and they would tell me about things and I’d think ‘I can put that in’. There is some light-hearted and funny things in there too.
“The story starts on the day she died, and the last poem brings things up to date. The book is called Through Plate Glass, because life carries on but it’s like looking at it through a completely different perspective. It’s like looking through plate glass at the world that’s going on around you.”
Christine said she had three reasons for publishing her book. The first was to help others who may have found themselves in the same situation, the second was to raise awareness of SUDEP and the third was to let people meet Samantha through her words and know what she was like.
“I just want people to meet Sam, because they missed out on her. She was such a lovely girl and they never got to meet her. I’m not going to write another book, this one means something.
“I just thought it would also be a good way to raise awareness of SUDEP. If people want to know more, they can go to the sudep.org website. If you have a child or relative who is epileptic go on the website and find out.”
Through Plate Glass is available on Amazon.
