A FAMILY is mourning the tragic loss of a loving mother of five, who died suddenly and unexpectedly in her sleep.

Samantha Tomlinson, who lived in Basildon, was a full time mum and devoted her life to caring for her children, including her youngest, Jacob, who was born with special needs.

Like the rest his siblings, the 13-year-old was extremely close with his mum and particularly relied on her for help with his condition, which means it takes him longer to understand things.

But despite facing a whole list of health troubles herself, including problems with her back which left her unable to work, Samantha, 52, refused to bat an eyelid.

Much to the shock of her loved ones, she passed away on January 9. And while the family wait for a coroners report, it is currently unknown what caused her death, just days before Jacob’s birthday.

Samantha Busher, who has been with Ms Tomlinson’s son Jamaine for over four years, explained: “It happened afternoon, mid-evening time, she just wouldn’t wake. It was honestly such a shock, nobody was expecting it. It came so suddenly.

“She used to suffer with quite a lot of health problems which she was on medication for and she wasn’t well at the time. But we're not sure how she died.

"A few days before she just felt very weak and run down, and tried to get in contact with the doctors but they couldn’t see her face to face.

“She sort of tried to rest it off. Although she was vulnerable and had a few Covid symptoms, as far as we know she didn’t have the virus.

“But the stress of everything at the moment didn’t help, especially having to be isolated from every one.

"For a year she wasn’t able to go out apart from to the doctors or if it was an emergency. She couldn’t even go shopping.”

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The 19-year-old, also from Basildon, added: “I was very close with her, she was my second mum and a friend all in one. We would always have movie nights and she would cook the best food. She was the most loving and kind person.

“Nothing was more important to her than family and Jacob was very reliant on her, no one knew him like she did. They were honestly inseparable and never spent a night apart.”

A Go Fund Me page has now been set up by the family to help with funeral costs and help pay for a headstone her loved ones can visit.

Any leftover donations will go towards helping secure Jacob’s education and his dreams for the future – with the youngster determined to become a paramedic.

Miss Busher continued: “It was her wish to be placed with her mother and father, but that’s in London. So we wanted to get a headstone locally just as somewhere we can all go and visit her as much as we want.

“Jacob also does find it harder to understand things. A lot of one on ones are needed with him at school, so even having a tutor would help.

“Having this support would be absolutely unreal, knowing there are kind people out there willing to help even at a time like this.”

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