WHO DIED AFTER YEARS BEING MISDIAGNOSED

web

to deal with life. That would really have helped Gemma. It also allowed her to say, ‘There’s something wrong with me and I’ve been telling people that for years.’”

But having had the treatment and different medication recommended, Rhonda and her sister struggled when they went back to the NHS.

Rhonda said: “We gave the information to the GP and he said, ‘Sorry, this treatment is not available on the NHS.’ I looked online and found a therapist who did DBT. the time of her death, Gemma was on a cocktail of prescription drugs, including Sertraline, Pregabalin and Diazepam.

Gemma went to sleep in the early hours of September 17 and never woke up.

The post-mortem will take 12 weeks to conclude but the drugs could have been a contributory factor. Sertraline is an anti- depressant but Pregabalin is more usually prescribed for sciatica and other neurological issues.

Rhonda said: “I spoke to Gemma at midnight and she talked about going back to the gym and returning to work in a few days. There was no sign she would have taken her own life.”

It was their father, Newell, who received the call the next day to say his younger daughter couldn’t be woken up.

He rushed to her home and unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate her before the paramedics arrived. Gemma’s two children now live with grandfather Newell and grandmother Isobel. The children often stayed at their house when Gemma was struggling.

The Jones family are grateful that the father of Gemma’s son, who sees him every weekend, has agreed to the permanent arrangement.

Rhonda said: “Kids are so resilient. Gemma’s daughter has lost her mum and dad and she told us she didn’t want to lose her brother as well.

“We speak about Gemma all the time. I was reading a bedtime story to her son and asked him what he was going to dream about. He replied, ‘ Castles, mummy and ice cream.’”

Rhonda is now throwing her energies into a lasting and fitting legacy for Gemma. The family have set up a crowdfunding page on JustGiving to help raise cash for the project.

Rhonda said: “The community centre are keen on having it. It will be a place where people can come for support and advice.

“The hope is to get more funding to expand into other communities and villages as well.