A dad-of-four died in his family bathroom on Boxing Day after he was sent home from with painkillers after he suffered chest pains.
Kevin Burnett, 47, of Abbey Hulton, in Stoke-on-Trent, fell behind the door of his bathroom that meant firefighters needed to get inside in order to deliver treatment. But by the time medics were able to get inside, he had already died. His heartbroken daughter, Kelsey, said he had recently visited hospital with chest pains before being sent home with painkillers. She described the family as being "devastated" and "in complete disarray."
"The day he passed away, he got up early in the morning and then collapsed behind the bathroom door," she told . "Because of that, they couldn’t get behind the door so the fire service had to come and cut the door off. By the time they’d got in, he’d already gone.
"He’d been suffering with chest pains for about a week before he passed away. He went to the hospital a few days prior and got sent home with Co-codamol. We don’t know the cause of death. But we do suspect things were missed because he’d been in and out of hospital for most of the year with different issues. We all think it could have been prevented, but we’ve got to wait until the post-mortem examination to find out for sure."
Kevin leaves behind his three other daughters Lucy, Chloe and Sophie as well as his partner of 20 years, Gemma Burnett, who he married last year. Speaking about her dad's death, Kelsey added: "It’s just been awful. It’s ruined for us. It’ll never be the same again. But we’re all so glad we got to spend one last happy Christmas together. It was a really good day. I’m just thankful it happened the day after."
The family has since taken to to help them raise the £8,000 needed to cover funeral costs, although the fundraiser is only asking for £3,000. Kelsey continued: "It’s an awful situation because we feel like we’re begging. But we haven’t got the money to just conjure up £8,000 for all the funeral costs. So we’ve just had to grin and bear it.
“We’ve had the funeral director come across and they gave us a rough estimate of £7,000 just for the service and the plot. Then we’ve got to get the gravestone and the flowers and everything else as well. So, all in all, it’s going to be about £8,500. With cash donations and things like that, we’ve managed to raise more than £3,000 so far. We’re very grateful. Lots of people have been donating. Our friends and family, our workplaces, and everyone on the GoFundMe as well.
"Our mum’s now on her own and my youngest sister is only 11, so she’s absolutely distraught. We just try to get through it day-by-day at the moment, but we don’t know why this has happened so we’re still in complete shock. He was a funny bloke, with a brilliant sense of humour. He was all about his family, he did everything for us. He worked hard to provide for us. I don’t know what to say. It’s hard to put it into words.
“It’s heartbreaking. We’re all trying to stick together and keep putting one foot in front of the other for our mum. She’s trying to keep busy, cleaning and things to keep her mind off. She’s devastated.
“Life is never going to be the same without you Dad. You’ve left a big hole in all of our hearts. We’ll never go a day without thinking about you and all the amazing things you’ve done for us. I hope you can see just how loved you were by everyone. We will miss you terribly.”
If you want to donate to the GoFundMe campaign, click . As of Wednesday morning, the fundraiser has reached nearly £2,500 in donations.