‘I still expect our Stephanie to walk through the door’
THE family of a popular young woman who died suddenly from viral meningitis have opened up over their loss.
Stephanie Davies’ family were left devastated after she died unexpectedly aged just 35.
The Llanelli mother, who had a daughter, Brooke, now aged seven, had been following the Scarlets in Treviso in December but complained of a headache when she returned home and went to her workplace, Gwalia in Swansea.
She went to see a doctor and was told she had viral meningitis and taken to hospital.
There is was discovered she also had encephalitis, an uncommon but serious condition in which the brain becomes inflamed. It can be life-threatening and requires urgent treatment.
Sadly, her condition deteriorated and she was put on life support for three days.
Her family had to make the heart-breaking decision to turn it off on January 1, one day after her husband Simon’s birthday.
Her mum Gill Davies said: “We keep saying, ‘Why could it not have been us? It should have been us’.
“I still expect her to walk through the door and ask for something nice to eat.
“They say it gets easier but it’s not getting any easier. It is a good job we’ve got our granddaughter; I don’t know how we would cope if we did not have her.
“The last fortnight she has started crying for her mammy. She has got a memory box and goes upstairs and puts stuff in it. She is talking to me a lot at the moment about her mammy.
“Her dad is supporting her as well, we could not ask for a better son-in-law. He is a fabulous person.”
Mrs Davies was a keen sportswoman and excelled at cricket, having represented Llanelli, Llangennech, Briton Ferry, Glamorgan and Wales.
The former Furnace and St John Lloyd’s School pupil also loved to follow the Scarlets and would go to their games, both home and away.
“She would do anything for anybody,” Mrs Davies said.
“She would organise lots of trips to see shows in Cardiff and would do all the arrangements for everybody.
“She had worked at Gwalia for around seven or eight years and played sports, including cricket for Llanelli, Llangennech, Briton Ferry, Glamorgan and Wales.
“She’d also go to all the home games and many away games supporting the Scarlets.
“She was so well-known and a well liked person.”
Donations were taken in lieu of flowers at her funeral, attended by more than 500 people, with £1,677.90 raised for the intensive care unit where she received treatment.
Brooke planned to hand the money over herself to the hospital to say a personal thank-you to those who helped treat her mum.
“She wants to give it to the people who looked after her mammy,” said Gill.