Katie’s Story

In February 2025 I very unexpectedly lost my dad.

He was ill with the flu and came home from work, something he had never done before. He prided himself in the fact he had never had a sick day in his 25 years at the company so that in itself worried me.

He texted me the day he came home sick and I said to him you need to go to the doctors that are very unlike you.

He died the next day and they diagnosed him with flu- plenty of fluids, rest and paracetamol. He didn’t seem to get any better though he was struggling to breathe, eat, move but he just kept saying it was bad flu and he’d get over it. I said to myself from the day he left work “it sounds like pneumonia” but after he’d seen the doctors he thought nothing more. 

I saw him on the Friday before he passed, he asked me to bring him some orange juice because he was sick of water so I did, he looked tired and weak and like he’d aged 10 years and I said to him please get a second opinion you look so unwell (as had many others) but he didn’t want to waste the time of the NHS after he’d already been once and been told it was only flu. 

Saturday night he went to bed, he couldn’t sleep so my mum gave him her pillows and he told her to go and sleep in my old bedroom (I have moved out now) so that she could get a good nights rest without him tossing and turning and waking her, so she did. She went to wake him Sunday morning and unfortunately he had passed in his sleep. The Coroner's report confirmed he died of pneumonia.  

I have been riddled with guilt and anger ever since, I knew he wasn’t right. I knew it was more than flu and surely there was more I could have done! 

I’ve dealt with grief before I know time eases pain, I lost my auntie, my uncle (dads brother) and my grandad all in the space of 12 months over 2017/18 so I know eventually I’ll be able to cope with the pain a bit better, just this time it feels so different. This is my dad, my best friend, my advisor, my practical joker and now I’m never gonna see him again! 

I’m very fortunate I had my son at 21 and got married at 24 (only in October) so he got to be a grandad and walk me down the aisle which is way more than most young people who deal with loss get and for that I am grateful but I am still angry and sad at all the future events I’m never going to get to share with him. 

At the moment I am going through the motions, helping my mum as much as possible and staying strong for my little boy.