Mum, 38, discovered useless on the ground by her horrified teen son on Christmas Day
Reece Barrett’s mum Louise McKenzie, 38, died suddenly on Christmas Day morning from a suspected brain haemorrhage after visiting doctors the previous day where she was diagnosed with an inflamed pancreas
Louise McKenzie with her son Reece(Image: )
A teenager was devastated after finding his mother’s body on Christmas Day just hours after bidding her goodnight. Louise McKenzie had visited the doctors on Christmas Eve with her son, Reece Barrett, where she received a diagnosis of an inflamed pancreas.
Reece, 18, said she was told it was nothing to be concerned about, and the duo proceeded with their Christmas shopping that afternoon. They returned to their Bootle home where the pair lived together with their XL bully Virgil, and the 38-year-old mum started preparing the house for Christmas Day.
Louise began experiencing dizziness and a headache before settling down to rest. Reece told the Liverpool Echo.: “That night I went out to see my friends, have a few drinks and celebrate. She rang me to see where I was and when I was going to be home so I came straight home.
“She was upstairs asleep, she was snoring her head off like she always would. I went in, said ‘goodnight, I love you’ and gave her a kiss, she said ‘merry Christmas, I love you’.
“I stayed up for an hour or two then went to bed. When I got up, it was around 11am, she was curled up on the floor of the bathroom.”
“I thought ‘what’s going on here?’ I tried to wake her up in the position she was in but there was nothing.
“I think I knew straight away she had passed away. I just went into a panic. I rang my girlfriend and she told me to ring an ambulance, the person on the phone told me to perform CPR.
“I thought she had started breathing but I think it was just the last of the air leaving her body. The paramedics, my girlfriend and her mum came and I was just distraught.
“I hoped the paramedics could save her but I think I already knew she was gone.
“She was pronounced dead at home and police had to come to make sure it wasn’t suspicious because it was just me and her in the house. The police came and they helped me out a lot, I have a lot of respect for them now for how they were.”
Reece, who is employed full-time as a civil servant after securing a position through college, shared a touching tribute to his mother. He expressed: “She was lovely. She was such a people person, she would always have a laugh and a joke with everyone.
“The last few years she’d been a bit more restricted because I left school and I was working all the time, and because we have such a big dog she would have to look after him. She was a mum, she would look after me and the dog.”
It is understood that Louise succumbed to a brain haemorrhage. Reece is presently staying with his girlfriend Holly and her relatives whilst he arranges accommodation for himself and Virgil.
He revealed: “I have an inkling of when it might have started because we were tidying up in the house on Christmas Eve and she said she was dizzy and had a headache.
“We know now they’re symptoms but at the time we had no clue it was a bleed on the brain. I hate myself that I didn’t take her to the hospital, instead I told her to just sit down.”
Fighting back tears, Reece added: “Me and my mum haven’t been best for money this year so I had tried to reassure her I wasn’t bothered about presents under the tree, I just wanted to have a nice day, Christmas dinner and watch some films. That’s the bit that gets me, the fact this has happened, it’s the craziest shock.
“My world has been turned upside down. Her Christmas pyjamas are still upstairs, she’ll never get to wear them or see everything I had promised her. It’s a killer.”
Holly’s mother, Vicki Bradshaw, has since initiated a GoFundMe campaign to assist Reece with living expenses following his mum’s passing, as he aims to secure his own accommodation to ensure a stable home for him and Virgil, given he can’t afford the rent at his mum’s house.
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