Heartbreak at loss of ‘loving’ Amber, 20
DEVASTATED MUM PAYS TRIBUTE TO HER ONLY CHILD AND NOW FACES AN AGONISING WAIT TO FIND OUT HOW SHE DIED AT STUDENT ACCOMMODATION –
A BURTON mum has spoken of her heartbreak after the sudden death of her 20-year-old daughter.
Amber Wood was found by her housemate at her student digs in Lynton Street, Derby.
Her mother, Sue, who brought up Amber at their home in Goodman Street, said the post-mortem examination had been inconclusive.
That means the Asda worker faces an agonising wait to find out how her only child died, with her inquest yet to be scheduled. Ms Wood told of the agonising moment she found out former de Ferrers school pupil Amber, who was in her third year studying psychology, at the University of Derby had died.
She said: “It was October 1 and I got the phone call from the police, I just felt numb. I just got in the car and got myself over there and saw a couple of police cars and a paramedic car, with a police officer outside the house. It was all very surreal.
“It was not until I got home that the enormity of what had happened really hit me. I was heartbroken and there were a lot of tears. It’s been so painful.
“I didn’t sleep that night – I was up all night just wondering why it had happened. Having collected her things, I just haven’t been in the right frame of mind to sort them out. There’s only so much I can do before it feels like enough’s enough and I can’t go on. Rummaging through her belongings, I find things I bought for her and birthday and Christmas presents and it just hits you so hard.”
Ms Wood, 56, told how Amber – who loved baking and was treasurer of the university baking society – would always help those in need.
She said: “She was very loving and caring. A lot of her friends would have problems with their studies and she’d say to them, ‘I’ll help you’. If anyone was struggling, she’d be there for them, even if it was the middle of the night.
“She was very organised and would plan all her work. She was so passionate about her degree.
“We’d even been looking at doing a medicine degree after she’d finished at Derby. I told her ‘whatever you want to do, I’ll support you’.
“We were so close, with it just being the two of us when she was growing up.
“She struggled with hypermobility and some days it would be really painful, but she was determined not to let it hold her back.”
Amber’s death has also devastated her grandparents, Trevor and Cath, who live in her street in Burton.
She had only recently reached out to her estranged half-brother, who was due to meet her for the first time shortly before she died.