A heartbroken father has paid tribute to his “incredible” partner after she died suddenly just a day after returning home from hospital.
Cameron Lewis, 28, described his devastation at losing Katie Macavoy, the devoted mum of their one-year-old son Dylan, after she passed away on April 25. Katie, 29, had spent almost a month in hospital recovering from spinal surgery before being discharged.
Cameron said the family had repeatedly raised concerns about what they feared were blood clots forming in her arm after the operation. “We asked a lot of different doctors about this but we never got anything confirmed,” he said. “We obviously never thought it would be as bad as it was.”
Katie returned home from hospital on April 24, but Cameron said she quickly became unwell. “She had only come home the day before and mentioned that when she stood up she became really short of breath,” he described. “She stood up to get ready for bed, looked really faint and was struggling to breathe, so I ushered her sit down. She fell and, presumably, had a fit where she lost consciousness.
“I called an ambulance after trying to get her into a safe position. When paramedics arrived she had a second fit, which killed her. She was scared and confused in her last moments. I tried to comfort her and calm her so they could help her, but it didn’t help.”
The coroner's office is now investigating Katie's death. Cameron said the couple met while studying at Wrexham University, where he studied music and Katie studied ceramics and art.
“Katie was the finest person I’ve ever met. She had such a big heart,” he said in a tribute. “She was wary of people, but if you were lucky enough to earn her trust, she had so much love to give. She was so caring. No matter how small your problems were, she would take them seriously if they mattered to you. She was really smart and so creative.”
Cameron and Katie moved to Merseyside six years ago, living in Huyton before relocating to Stockbridge Village last November after the birth of Dylan. He described how the pair fell in love with the city due to its musical and artistic heritage.
“We’d visited a lot of different cities, but Liverpool was the closest big city to us. I’ve always loved music and The Beatles, and Katie really loved the arts. We loved the city and thought it would be the perfect place to settle down.”
Cameron has returned to Gloucester with Dylan since Katie's passing. “We could have stayed in Liverpool, but because Katie died at home it would have been very difficult to remain there. At the same time, leaving means leaving behind so many memories. Me and Katie didn’t really have a large support network around us, and I want Dylan to grow up with that support around him. She loved Dylan so much. She would have done anything for him. She was so calm with him; being a mum came naturally to her. She always wanted to do whatever made him happy. Her whole focus in life was making him smile.”
A fundraiser has since been launched to help cover the cost of Katie’s funeral, with anything leftover going to support Dylan in the future. Speaking about the response, Cameron added: “I just want to thank anyone who chooses to donate. It’s easy to see stories like this and think of them as something far away, without realising there are real people going through it. So when someone takes the time to empathise and support us, I think that’s an incredibly generous thing to do.”
