A young family in the UK is grieving the loss of a 23-year-old wife and mother all over again after an inquest this month into the matter. Amelia Smith from Kirkby, England, was described as “the glue” in her family. Smith had just given birth to her second child. She also battled an eating disorder.
About a month after the birth of her daughter, Smith began to complain of stomach pain. Later, her partner found her dead in the bed the bed they shared.
More from CafeMom: Confessions of a Mom With an Eating Disorder
During her second pregnancy, Smith was treated for low potassium levels.
Smith, a beautician, had struggled with anorexia for years, The Mirror reported. When she was pregnant with her second child, daughter Poppy, she had low potassium levels and was hospitalized in September 2021. Doctors treated her with an intravenous drip.
Later, the mom went home with potassium tablets. A month after giving birth, Smith was out to dinner with her partner, Tom Mooney, when she complained of a sore belly. Because of her eating disorder, such complaints were not unusual, but her family said this particular stomach issue was different.
More from CafeMom: Mom With: What Living With an Eating Disorder Is Like for a Mom of Two
Smith's partner heard her take a deep gasp of air.
She attributed the pain to just having given birth and did not return to the doctor. By the time the couple went to bed, around midnight November 14, 2021, Smith’s stomach issues had subsided.
In the early hours of the morning, Smith woke to feed Poppy before going back to sleep, the Liverpool ECHO reported. At 6:30 a.m., her partner reported hearing her take a “deep gasp for air.” He assumed it was her exhaling and that she was in a deep sleep.
When Mooney went to wake her, he found her unresponsive.
By this time, both children were awake and Mooney took care of them while he let their mom sleep in. At around 8:45 a.m., he sent his son Lucas upstairs to wake his mother, but when Lucas got halfway up the stairs, he stopped like he, according to Mooney, “knew something was up.”
Mooney completed the journey up the stairs where he found Smith unresponsive. He called emergency services and performed CPR as he waited for the paramedics. After additional efforts from the paramedics, Smith was pronounced dead.
A coroner ruled that the mom had died of natural causes that may have been linked to her anorexia.
A coroner told the court earlir this month that Smith died of natural causes, likely spawned by a sudden arrhythmic cardiac event with a morphological normal heart. The coroner determined that it could have been caused by the anorexia and feeling unwell during her pregnancy.
The now single dad will remember Smith as the “glue that held us all together.” Lucy Grayson-Maguire, a friend and fellow beautician, described her as a “gentle, kind and beautiful soul who could light up a room with her amazing smile and presence.”
Grayson-Maguire launched a GoFundMe account page to help Smith’s family during this difficult time. It surpassed its goal.
