Five children left without a mother after she dies suddenly during sixth pregnancy

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated:

Five young children were left without their mother when she died just hours after falling ill during a sixth pregnancy, an inquest heard.

Mother-of-five Shellie Westerman contracted a rare infection and doctors were unable to save her.

The 25-year-old, who was ten weeks pregnant, had gone to bed complaining only of a minor headache which was put down to her pregnancy.

Yet within 12 hours she had died in hospital from septicaemia after collapsing at home, a coroner in Sheffield was told.

After the hearing, her devastated mother Carol Grist said: 'She lived her life for her kids. She was a fantastic mother.'

Shellie Westerman's five children

Loss: Shellie Westerman's five children, clockwise from left Jordan, 7, Jack, 7, Bethany, 9, Harley, 3 and Kai, 5

Miss Westerman, from Barnsley, left Bethany, nine, twins Jordan and Jack, seven, Kai, five and Harley, three, after her death last November.

The children are now being cared for by their father Wayne Green, Miss Westerman's ex-partner, and by her mother.

Mrs Grist told the inquest her daughter had made an appointment to see a doctor about her pregnancy for the day after she died.

She and the children were at their grandmother's home nearby for most of the day before the tragedy, when she had seemed fine.

Mrs Grist said: 'Shellie said she had a headache that morning and had taken a Paracetamol but it wasn't making her ill.'

After returning home and putting the children to bed, Miss Westerman rang her mother at 11pm.

'She said she was fed up and said we should have gone out for the evening. She said "I will see you for your dinner tomorrow" and she said she loved me and that was it.'

Shellie Westerman

No warning: Miss Westerman, 25, had been feeling fine just before she died

By the time Mrs Grist arrived at her daughter's home at 8.30am the next day she had collapsed.

'She was limp and her lips were purple. She was going cold,' she said.

An ambulance was called and paramedics worked on Shellie for 40 minutes but could not revive her. She was pronounced dead in hospital later.

Pathologist Dr Kim Suvarna told the inquest there was no evidence of a heart attack or stroke.

She had suffered inflammation of the small blood vessels around her heart and the unborn baby and an infection had entered her blood stream.

The doctor said victims of septicaemia could become seriously ill within minutes or just a few hours. He added: 'A decline in 12 hours would not be unusual.'

Recording a verdict of natural causes, deputy coroner Donald Coutts-Wood said: 'She is one of those very unfortunate rare situations where this has developed very rapidly and proved to be fatal.'

Mrs Grist said afterwards: 'Shellie was very bubbly and full of life. She loved kids... She had no problems previously giving birth to her five kids. She didn't feel ill and was fine when she left me the evening before she died. It was such a shock to everyone.'

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