A heartbroken mam died just weeks after her long-term partner leaving behind their 10-year-old son.
Jill Skivington, 46, lost her life after suffering a heart attack and a catastrophic stroke. Four weeks earlier, her partner of 15 years Gary Armstrong, 49, passed away following a cardiac arrest.
The couple, from Wallsend, leave behind their autistic son Alfie as well as Jill's daughters Katy, 21, and Ellie, 22, who thought of Gary as their father.
Jill's brother Andrew, 42, said: "It's really bad luck, it's horrendous. We'll try to be there as much as we can but we can never be a mother. Gary was good fun and he was always there for them.
"If you take one parent out you can cope and help fill that hole but when you take both out it's a really big hole you have got to fill. It's just very sad."
Concerns were raised about shutter engineer Gary, who also has two twin sons Tom and Dean, 23, after he failed to arrive for work on April 13. Andrew and Katy went to his home in Rosehill and found he had died on the sofa while watching TV.
Andrew, from Wallsend, said: "He had been to Jill's, watched telly and then he went home. The next day he didn't turn up at work. Me and Katy went down, we had to break in, and he was dead on the settee. Jill was inconsolable, she was devastated."
Katy and Ellie were both spending the weekend with their mam at her home in Battlehill when she fell ill on May 1. She suffered two blood clots - one in her heart and one in her brain. They caused a heart attack and a catastrophic stroke, which led to swelling on Jill's brain.
Andrew said Jill was initially rushed to Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington before being transported to the Newcastle Freeman Hospital and then the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) where she died on May 12.
He said: "She was so unlucky. She had one blood clot in her heart and one in the brain at the same time. The doctor had to make a decision about which one was more important. The heart came first, they put a stent in to see how that went and they had to do an operation after that to relieve the pressure on her brain.
"The doctors prepared us from pretty early on that they didn't think she would get better. My mam was really strong through it, she was great and kept us all together. She's a rock."
Gary's funeral was held at Tynemouth Crematorium in Tynemouth on May 11. Andrew said: "Gary was a lovely bloke and he had a lot of friends. Everyone got on with Gary, he's never had an enemy."
Andrew, who run's a children's party business, describes his sister as one of his best friends. He said his family is planning a natural burial for her. He said: "She was an amazing sister, daughter, mother and girlfriend. We have all lost something that we can't replace.
"There's always going to be a hole there, we have got to try and remember her and make sure all the kids aren't left needing anything. She was a great mam, she had three great kids and they are all going to miss her a lot."
A Go Fund Me page has been set up to raise funds for Alfie, Katy and Ellie. It states that guardianship can take up to a year to achieve and, during that time, the family will receive no financial assistance. The cash will mainly be put aside for Alfie's care.
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