Gold Coast family's heartache after young mum dies in sleep from common cold
The heartbroken family of a young Gold Coast mother who died in her sleep has finally been told what caused her death: the common cold.
Rachel Richardson, 34, came home sick from work on July 13, put a pie in the oven and went to bed.
A few hours later, her husband Gareth returned from work to find the house in darkness, filled with smoke and Rachel’s lifeless body in their bed.
“The shock of the tragedy kind of hits you in the face and leaves you pretty hollow,” Mr Richardson told Daily Mail Australia.
He was left with the task of telling their two young daughters, aged four and 18 months, and then his wife’s parents, in England, that she had passed away.
“I explained to Kate that mummy's heart stopped working and it was just the three of us now,” he said.
“But it wasn't as hard as the conversation with Rachel's parents, that was a much tougher conversation... They were shattered.”
Gareth had to make that call on Facetime because his work phone didn’t make internationals calls, which meant Rachel’s parents could see their daughter’s body.
That was “bloody brutal for them, brutal and honest” Gareth told the Gold Coast Bulletin, but it had felt right and “meant they got to see Rach for the last time”.
All Rachel’s loved ones were left stunned and heartbroken, not just with the devastation of losing her, but the frustration of not knowing why.
She had been feeling under the weather the morning of her death and had initially considered taking the day off, but then she jumped in the shower and said she was going in, her husband recounted.
It was all so typical of a common cold, normal. So why had she died?
This week, the family’s questions were answered when doctors confirmed the young council worker had died when bacteria from her cold entered her bloodstream.
“The most comforting part is knowing it’s not a genetic thing and the girls don’t have to live life wondering what may happen to them,” Gareth said.
“Even if I had been there and rushed her to hospital, we still would have lost her”.
