Rachel Vaughan could never have imagined finding herself a widow at just 37 years old and left to bring up three young children on her own.
But 15 months ago the Co Down mum's world fell apart when she lost her husband Andrew in January 2021.
Andrew worked as a freelance photographer but more importantly he was a loving and devoted husband as well as a proud and adoring daddy to their three children Tilly, 12, Benji, 10, and Micah, 8.
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"It has been a tough 15 months as it was all very sudden and we were plunged into a life we never imagined," Rachel told Belfast Live.
"I was with Andrew for 20 years from the age of 17 and grew up with him so to be left at 37 widowed and with three kids is something you think will never happen to you."
Andrew was a fit and healthy 46-year-old but tragically he died suddenly on January 27 last year from a massive burst brain aneurysm at the family home in Annahilt.
Rachel, a teacher, had only been speaking to him on the phone minutes beforehand but returned home to find Andrew lying on the floor.
"On that morning everything was completely normal, I had been homeschooling the kids and doing my own online teaching. Andrew was also working from home and was in his office and he had lunch with us.
"In the afternoon I took my granny to her new nursing home as she had been living with us for a while. I took the kids too and after we dropped granny off we went for a walk to Hillsborough Park."
She added: "We got back to the car park just after 4pm and Andrew phoned me to say he'd finished work and we had a completely normal chat. I said I'd be home in five or ten minutes but when I got there I found him on the floor.
"At the beginning I thought he was joking as he was making a snoring noise so I thought he was pretending to be sleeping. Very quickly I realised that he wasn't waking up and it was all a bit chaotic as the kids were there with me."
Rachel phoned for an ambulance and sent Tilly next door for help.
"He wasn't breathing and had gone into cardiac arrest and I had to perform CPR on him until paramedics arrived.
"They worked on him for a long time and got a heartbeat but I was told that Andrew was very unstable," she recalled.
"In 16 minutes, he went from being fit and well to me having to phone for an ambulance for him so it was all very sudden."
Andrew was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where it was initially believed he had suffered a massive heart attack. However, a routine brain scan showed a massive bleed due to a burst aneurysm.
"I was told that he wouldn't survive but he remained on life support until the 29th to be stabilised for brain function tests, which allowed me and the kids time to say our goodbyes," Rachel said.
"I had already been told that there was no hope even though everyone was praying for a miracle that Andrew would survive. The doctors and nurses were all amazing and they did everything they could for him."
Rachel was faced with a tough future, bringing up their children on her own.
"The first six months were a complete and utter haze with being able to do very little but if I didn't have the kids, I think my life would have been very different," she recalled.
"I did want to stay in bed and not function but I had promised Andrew when he was in hospital that I would raise the kids to make him proud.
"They had lost their daddy and they couldn't lose their mummy too so I had to pull myself together."
Rachel is now planning a fundraising hike in the Mourne Mountains on Saturday, 4th June in memory of Andrew but also to raise money for Headway, the brain injury association.
She has set up a Just Giving page and has so far raised over £1,100.
"From the moment Andrew died I knew that I wanted to do something in memory of him and for him to not be forgotten about. We liked to hike in the mountains before we had kids so I thought this would be a nice thing to do.
"I intend to try to do approximately 30km and 16 peaks as we were married for 16 years. It's a challenge that will also give me a focus and I'm hoping some friends will join me on part of the way."
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