In loving memory of Carolyn Stanton. ❤️

We are absolutely devastated by the loss of our dear mum Carolyn, who unexpectedly passed away at the age of 48 on Sunday, 6th of August.

Carolyn woke up sick on Thursday the 27th of July and thought she had food poisoning, she later realised what she was experiencing was something completely different.

She tried to seek help at the Latrobe Regional Hospital on Saturday, 29th of July, because she had all signs of a stroke including numbness on one side of her body, vomiting, blurry vision and an excruciating headache. After getting a CT scan done, it showed a lesion on her brain, in her right frontal lobe and she was admitted to the hospital over night.

On Sunday the 30th of July they discharged Carolyn under the recommendation that she take panadol and to make an appoinment with her GP to schedule an MRI which would have taken weeks, if not months.

Carolyn's discharge papers state that she was pain free, but that is very untrue. She was still miserable and in alot of pain.

Carolyn was scheduled to see her GP on Tuesday the 1st of August, but unfortunately she didn't make it there, she continued to feel unwell, this time both her legs were going numb and it caused her to fall in the shower.

Her daughters took her back to the hospital and they sat her in the waiting room for 6 hours, her daughter had to walk her to the toilet everytime she needed to go because her left side kept going numb and she kept falling.

When the triage nurse was asked why Carolyn was waiting for such a long time when she was still showing all signs of a stroke he said because "it isn't new anymore, she was here 2 days ago for this".

Finally she was seen by a doctor who examined her, he seen that Carolyn was experiencing all the signs of a stroke and went to see his boss to see if they could do another CT scan, he came back and said no, that it was too much radiation for someone of her age and they sent her home again, with the same advice to take panadol and to see her GP and get a referral for MRI as an outpatient.

The next day, on Wednesday 2nd of August, her 6 year old grandson who lived with her, went to her room to say good morning and found her choking.

Carolyns youngest daughter rushed into her room where she found her having a seizure.

As a result of the seizure, Brittany had to preform CPR while on the phone to emergency services.

An ambulance came and rushed Carolyn to Latrobe Regional Hospital, where she had a second seizure less then 3 hours later.

Carolyn unfortunately was already no longer herself, she could not recognise any of her children, she could not talk and she could not control her body properly anymore which resulted in the doctors having to sedate her and put in a breathing tube, she was then airlifted to the Monash hospital in Clayton a few hours later.

On Thursday the 3rd of August, Monash Hospital gave her an MRI which showed that the lesion on her brain that Latrobe Regional Hospital had found and sent her home for, was the result of her having a stroke.

The MRI showed that she had many strokes affecting many parts of her brain, the strokes had happened before her seizures.

On Friday the 4th of August, Carolyn's four children had a meeting with the doctors looking after her, they said that her right carotid artery had become blocked and it was gone, therefore she wasn't getting enough oxygen to her brain, it was what was responsible for her strokes.

They didn't think she would make it through the night, as her brain swelling was too major and her brain was trying to push itself out of her skull, they said if it tried to swell any further it would result in death or if by some miracle the brain swelling was to go down, and she did wake up, she would have severe disabilities, and they were concerned her brain was still having strokes, and that it may result in her becoming brain dead.

On Saturday the 5th of August, the doctors and Carolyn's children all had another meeting, where they were told they were confident that Carolyn had progressed to brain death and they would stop some medications and test her in the morning, but again, they were worried her heart would stop before morning.

If she wasn't to be brain dead, they said she would never be able to live without a breathing tube.

Sadly, Carolyns children had watch her suffer through the last days of her life and had to watch more and more parts of her brain slowly die.

On Sunday the 6th of August, Carolyn was declared brain dead and her children had to make the hardest decision to let the doctors take out her breathing tube and watch her heart stop beating. Her children stayed right by her side until her last breath.

Carolyn leaves behind her four children, three grandchildren, a son- and a daughter-in-law, who all will love, remember and miss her forever. Her passing has left a void that can never be filled in our lives. We are left with so many questions and feeling confused on how and why this has happened, we are incredibly sad that we will never see her or talk to her again, guilty that we could not get her better help and very, very angry that she did not receive the help that she so desperately needed and tried to get.

Carolyn has always been the star of the show and kept everyone around her entertained. We will remember our mums unique personality, her infectious laugh, her unconditional love and all the silly and funny memories we have of her. Carolyns life was filled with many ups and downs, lots of tears and laughter and things were never really easy for her, but she always tried to enjoy life to the absolute fullest. She still had so many plans to do, see and experience many more things and it crushes us to think that she will never get to do any of them.

Unfortunately, because her passing was so sudden and tragic, we are struggling to cover the costs of her funeral and hope family and friends can help raise funds to give our mum the dignified farewell she deserves.

We appreciate your help during this difficult time and thank you for supporting us to honour our mums life meaningfully.

We love you, Carolyn ❤️

- Dylan, Jacob, Stephanie & Brittany

with Luca, Layton & Tamika

Joel & Sophie