Gold Coast mum Shannon Sime dies from stroke as GoFundMe is set up to help Scott, baby Harlow

A shattered husband has shared his heartache following the death of his young wife to a stroke, just six weeks after the birth of their first child.

Shannon Sime, a 29-year-old hairdresser from the UK who had been living on the Gold Coast, suffered a stroke on August 5 and sadly lost her life three days later.

In a final act of selflessness Ms Sime donated her organs, potentially saving the lives of five people. 

One person who had just 24 hours to live was given Ms Sime’s heart.  

She and her husband Scott had only just welcomed their daughter Harlow into the world, leaving the father devastated as he raises his newborn alone.

‘Shannon is the most amazing person I’ve ever met,’ Mr Sime wrote in an emotional Facebook post.

‘She’s made this world a much better place and it comforts me in knowing how many positive impacts she’s had on people lives from every corner of the globe.’

The pair moved from the UK to South Australia ten years ago and built a life for themselves, spending stints in Adelaide, Melbourne and recently the Gold Coast.

Mr Sime said he was ‘eternally grateful’ his wife had chosen him to ‘do life’ with.

‘I’m in awe of all the amazing things we’ve been able to do together and how even after everything she’s been through, was still able to find the strength to live every moment like it was her last and be as selfless as she is,’ he said.

Tributes have flowed in from loved ones grieving the death of Ms Sime who was ‘loved by anyone who had the pleasure of knowing her’.

A close friend of the couple, Daniel O’Hara, said Ms Sime’s stroke was ‘out of the blue’ and she hadn’t been ill at the time. 

‘It’s been extremely tough, we were so close to them but so far away in Adelaide as they were in the Gold Coast,’ he told Daily Mail Australia. 

The 29-year-old has been remembered as incredibly selfless, spending her Christmases feeding the homeless and cutting the hair of victims of domestic violence.

Mr O’Hara and his wife have set up a GoFundMe to support Mr Sime financially as he takes time off work as a crane operator to care for Harlow.

Mr O’Hara said he and his wife met the couple in 2013 when they were living in Adelaide and remained close with them throughout the years.

He is flying to Queensland on Friday to be by his friend’s side.

‘He’s a shell of the man he was and I think he’s struggling to even know how to be a father,’ Mr O’Hara said.

‘But he’s incredibly strong. I couldn’t imagine having to organise a funeral for my wife at 29 but Scott did it, and basically all by himself.’

As Mr Sime is from the UK his parents have flown in from overseas but he has no other family in Australia. 

The Sime’s however have a large group of friends in Adelaide who have rallied around the father as he grieves.

Mr O’Hara has organised a fundraiser soccer game and a silent auction with the proceeds going to Mr Sime as well as to support stroke and organ donation awareness.

Mr O’Hara described Ms Sime as someone who was ‘loved by everyone she met’.

‘Everyone fell in love with her and Scott, they were infectious,’ he said.

‘She always had a smile on her face and a positive outlook on everything.’ 

More than 27,000 Australians suffered a stroke in 2020, according to the Stroke Foundation, with one in four to suffer one in their lifetime.

In 2019, 23 Australians died from a stroke each day, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, making it one of the five leading causes of death.