A heartbroken mum has paid tribute to her "caring" daughter from Byker who tragically passed away at the age of just 26 after she collapsed at work.
Tiffany Walsh, who was a learning support assistant at Thomas Bewick School in West Denton, Newcastle, began feeling breathless and fell forwards hitting the ground. Despite the best efforts from her colleagues and the emergency services, she tragically passed away on October 3.
Her family has been told she died from cardiac arrhythmia which is a heart rhythm problem and said it could have been a "ticking time bomb". Tiffany's sudden death has devastated her loved ones and now her family is trying to raise as much money as possible to give her the "send-off she deserves".
Paying tribute to her daughter, Catherine Walsh said: "Tiffany loved being mischievous and she used to just laugh all the time, she was an absolute joy. If you were down you would want her to be around you.
"She was infectious and people were just infatuated with her. When she walked into a room everyone's attention went to her, she didn't mean to but everyone was so drawn to her."
Catherine opened up on the shock of losing her daughter at such a young age and said they had an incredibly close bond. She said: "We were very close, we used to always have a joke together. I keep going to ring her and then I remember. It's really hard, it's still such a shock."
Explaining what happened, Catherine said: "She was working at Thomas Bewick School and she was having a lovely day but she sat down because she felt breathless and fell forwards. She was given CPR and the ambulance was called and they did CPR too but she didn't respond. We were told it could have been a ticking time bomb."
Tiffany leaves behind her mum Catherine, dad David, brothers David, Christian, Bradley and Luke and partner Lindsey who she had hoped to move in with. Catherine said Tiffany adored her family and friends and would go "above and beyond" for them.
She said: "She would go above and beyond for her family. She was very close to her grandad. His wife died eight years ago and Tiffany took it upon herself to be there for him. They were always together and when she left she'd leave little notes to say she missed him.
"Tiffany and Lindsey had so much planned and were on the verge of being incredibly happy as they had wanted to live together. She was so popular but she didn't have friends, she had best friends and she made sure they all knew they were her best friends."
Life and soul of the party, Tiffany was a well-known figure in the LGBT community and loved going out to socialise. Her mum continued: "She was a huge part of the LGBT scene in Newcastle and she was loved across the North East. Tiffany loved a cocktail, she was the life and soul of the party.
"She was also a very talented person, she was very talented at make-up and did lots of TikTok videos. She loved photography too. She couldn't be still, she always had to be doing something. She wanted to be out socialising and mixing with people.
"She always made an entrance but her exit was just as massive because she was so clumsy and accident-prone! She was also very caring and would give you the shirt off her back. She'd give money to the homeless so they could stay in a hotel if the weather was bad."
Tiffany loved animals and had hoped to develop that passion into a career but instead worked in the care industry before taking the plunge into teaching which she "loved".
In a statement, Thomas Bewick School paid tribute to Tiffany saying: "Tiffany had only worked with us since the start of this school year, but she loved her job and had started to build some wonderful relationships with staff and pupils. She will be greatly missed by us all.
"This has been a very difficult week for our Trust and school community, particularly for the staff who worked with Tiffany and especially for those who were with her during her final moments. To Tiffany, thank you for the light you brought into our school and for the smiles you put on many of our pupils’ faces."
Following Tiffany's tragic death, a Go Fund Me page was set up to try and raise money to go towards her funeral and so far more than £2,600 has been raised. Catherine said she has been "blown away" by the support flooding in for her and her family.
She said: "I have been blown away by the messages and support. I'm finding new things about her every day thanks to all the people getting in touch. I hope she knows how many people she affected, everyone she came into contact with, they never forgot her."
And to pay tribute to the much-loved daughter, her family is throwing one last party for her at the Tipsy Cow on Blandford Street, Newcastle, on Wednesday, October 12 from 4pm. Catherine said she has been inundated with people donating prizes for the raffle and people wanting to perform at the event in tribute to Tiffany.
Catherine said: "Halloween was her favourite, I remember once a party was cancelled so she made us throw a Halloween party because hers was cancelled so she would have loved this party. I thought it was going to be quite low-key but it's just grown into this huge thing, she would have loved it."
The mum added: "I'm going to miss her so much, she has left a huge hole in this family. She had the power to reunite people and her legacy is to just be kind and forgiving and to love everyone. We have to be her eyes and ears now and see the world through her eyes."
If you would like to donate to the Go Fund Me page, you can do so here, and you can find out more information about the fundraising event here.
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