Emotional tributes have been paid to a "fit and healthy" mum who never woke up after her birthday night out.
Joanne Barker had appeared “well” with “nothing wrong” while out for a meal celebrating her 53rd birthday in July.
After the "lovely" evening, the mum-of-two returned home but became unresponsive that night and died in hospital the evening after, Liverpool Echo reports.
Doctors identified a brain aneurysm - a type of bulge in the artery wall - as to blame, having resulted in a fatal haemorrhage. Her family were unaware of any symptoms prior to her death, and say Joanne appeared fit and healthy.
Joanne, from Runcorn, lived in Castlefields and worked in admin and sales for an engineering firm, and was mother to Neve Hayter, 22, and Lee Barker 29.
Neve said her mother’s nature was to “always put others before herself”.
She added: “She put everyone else before herself, and she had a heart of gold, and for her funeral we took donations for Mind because she tried to help a lot of people with mental health, she’s done a lot for them.”
Joanne, who walked her dog three times a day and was on no medication, was also a registered organ donor, with her heart donated to a woman in her 60s in need of an “urgent transplant”, while her kidneys went to two men in their 30s, potentially saving three lives in all.
The mum's devastated family now want to raise awareness of aneurysm and have encouraged those who may have early warning symptoms to seek medical help.
“We feel there’s not enough awareness," Neve said. "None of us knew she had an aneurysm and none of us knew what it’s like, it was like ‘where the hell has this come from? It’s important.
“My mum had no past medical history, she took no tablets, she walked the dog three times a day.”
Neve, a trainee nurse, said aneurysm symptoms can be difficult to spot as they can overlap with other conditions, such as “feeling under the weather ”.
Others can be more pronounced, such as visual disturbance, pain near the eye, weakness or numbness on one side of the face, loss of balance, difficulty speaking, and headaches.
Neve said: “If you have persistent headaches push for an MRI or be referred to The Walton Centre. Don’t sit there and be fobbed off with painkillers. We’ve all been referred to The Walton Centre now.”
Outlining the motivation for raising awareness, she said: “Even if someone just had a scan, it could potentially save someone’s life, even if it’s one person.”
A group of 22 relatives, friends and well-wishers will be completing a walk up Snowdon next July in her memory in aid of The Brain Charity in Liverpool.
To support the climb and find out more information, visit the “Brain Aneurysm Awareness“ fundraiser’s page at justgiving.com.
