{"id":628015,"date":"2026-06-08T19:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/628015\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T19:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:36:22","slug":"mum-died-at-47-after-six-months-of-living-hell-with-common-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/628015\/","title":{"rendered":"Mum died at 47 after six months of ‘living hell’ with common illness"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 47-year-old\u2019s health took a significant downward turn, including losing her eyesight, sepsis and subsequent amputationNeil Shaw<\/a> Assistant Editor (Money and Lifestyle)<\/p>\n

07:22, 08 Jun 2026Updated 08:04, 08 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

\"Christina,<\/p>\n

Christina, Tommy and Mikey<\/p>\n

A man says his wife\u2019s final months on Earth were a \u201cliving hell\u201d as she suffered with a condition 4.5 million people have in the UK. Christina Gavin had Type 2 diabetes and had been managing the disease until the stillbirth of her daughter, Angelica.<\/p>\n

The 47-year-old\u2019s health took a significant downward turn, including losing her eyesight, sepsis<\/a> and subsequent amputation of her right leg and stage five kidney failure. \u201cI\u2019m too young to be a widower,\u201d said her husband, Michael, from Dagenham, London.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything went wrong. The things she went through, you couldn\u2019t make it up. The blood stopped flowing to her right hand and her index finger went really black. She was delirious and screaming.<\/p>\n

\"Christina<\/p>\n

Christina in hospital<\/p>\n

Forgotten immune organ can predict how long you’ll live, landmark trial crushes \u2018undruggable\u2019 cancers, and blood test can spot signals of Alzheimer\u2019s early – all this and more in our latest science newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was terrifying for me. She couldn’t even move that well at that point and she struggled with everything. I asked doctors to look at her finger because it was black, smelly and the fingernail had fallen off. I thought it needed to be amputated like her leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a battle. People don\u2019t realise that diabetes is a silent killer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christina, a housewife, was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in 2009 and was prescribed insulin. After the stillbirth in 2012, though, things only continued to go downhill. In 2014, she was registered blind after five operations to fix her eyesight had little to no success.<\/p>\n

Christina had a detached retina in her right eye caused by diabetes. Then, five years later, she developed an ulcer on her foot, which turned septic and later resulted in the amputation of her right leg above the knee.<\/p>\n

\"Christina<\/p>\n

Christina at Angelica’s grave<\/p>\n

Her condition only continued to worsen and in 2023, she was diagnosed with stage five kidney failure after getting back pain, weakness and fatigue. Michael, a former construction worker, became her full-time carer as the disease began impacting each part of his wife\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

The 46-year-old said: \u201cChristina had to have dialysis three times a day. Because of the dialysis, she had to have a fistula, and it went wrong. The blood flow wasn\u2019t working properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer hand was stone cold, in a claw and her blood sugar got really low so they had to reverse it. Just before Christmas<\/a> 2025, Christina suffered two cardiac arrests and was place into an induced coma for two weeks. The black finger was amputated during this time and she showed signs of improvement.<\/p>\n

\"Christina<\/p>\n

Christina with her children Mikey and Tommy<\/p>\n

Michael said: \u201cWhen she woke up, she was so confused and she didn’t recognise me. It was so distressing. I was so angry, wishing something had been done sooner. I don\u2019t know why it took them so long; it had to be an emergency before we were taken seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, the fight still wasn\u2019t over, as an open wound was left on her hand. Christina knocked it and it began bleeding. Another finger had to be removed. In her final weeks, she was then rushed back into hospital after her dialysis PICC line began \u2018gushing out blood\u2019.<\/p>\n

It was found that the mum-of-two to Tommy, 21 and Mikey, 17, had developed a chest infection, with fluid on her lungs. She never returned home. Michael said: \u201cThe last six months of her life were hell. It makes me angry and upset for her. The hospital called and said she was unresponsive, so I got there as fast as I could.<\/p>\n

\"Christina<\/p>\n

Christina and Michael<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had an oxygen mask on and was trying to breathe. It was so out of the blue because I\u2019d been talking to her the day before. I went to get a bottle of water and when I got back, they said she was gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sat with her, played her some music and talked to her. Her sister and dad nearly collapsed when I told them and our sons broke down. It was an awful conversation \u2013 but I did it for my wife. I’d do anything for my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, he\u2019s surviving on Universal Credit<\/a> and is appealing for donations to help cover the cost of her funeral. He hopes to bury her beside Angelica. Michael added: \u201cI want people to know how lovely, strong and kind my wife was.<\/p>\n

\"Christina,<\/p>\n

Christina, Tommy and Mikey<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want her to be forgotten. When I talked to her, it felt like talking to a mate. I used to call us sweet and sour, [because] she was sweet and saw the good in people I was sour and saw the bad in people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know she’s not here 1780947376 but I think she is. It’s definitely boring without her. I never wanted her to go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 47-year-old\u2019s health took a significant downward turn, including losing her eyesight, sepsis and subsequent amputationNeil Shaw Assistant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[22068,5573,59,102,2196,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-628015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-back-pain","tag-diabetes","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-hospitals","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}