'Cracking' Scots mum, 48, dies on Christmas Eve after paramedics thought Strep A symptoms were the flu

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A 'cracking' Ayrshire mum tragically died on Christmas Eve after her Strep A symptoms were thought to be a bout of flu.Irvine mum of five Carolyn Butcher died at 1.15pm on Saturday, December 24 from hemorrhaging of the upper gastrointestinal tract, septicemia, and invasive group a streptococcal disease (Strep A) the day after paramedics thought she was displaying symptoms of flu.The 48-year-old was only admitted to Crosshouse Hospital after her fiancé begged 999 operators to send another ambulance out to the stricken mum who had started vomiting blood later that night.Much-loved Carolyn's sudden death has devastated her five kids, two of whom are aged just eight and 10 years old.

She's also survived by her fiancé Kenny Wilson and seven grand children.Grieving daughter Samantha Butcher believes her mum may still be alive if she was admitted to the hospital earlier.She said: "Mum said she was feeling unwell on Friday morning and the paramedics came out, took her blood pressure - which was high - and said she had the flu and left."My step-dad had to argue with the 999 operator to send another ambulance after she started vomiting blood later that night."All I knew was she was in the hospital because she was feeling sick until I got a call telling me she was being worked on.

It was a total shock. The next thing we knew was she was going in for an emergency operation and was put on life support. "She seemed to improve after the op and was sleeping when I left around 11.30pm but on Christmas Eve morning I got a call saying we need to get to the hospital as soon as we could as she didn't have much time left. "All I could think was, what could've happened in 12 hours?"She had two cardiac arrests throughout the night and I was