Family of tragic Chorley mum who died suddenly aged 35 launch fundraising campaign to cover funeral costs

Dawn Hirst, who lived in Chorley and attended St James’ Infants School and Albany High School before moving to Horwich, was found collapsed in her bathroom in the early hours of August 13.

Her funeral at Charnock Richard Crematorium was attended by 150 people, but months later, her family are still struggling to pay the remaining £1,000 of the bill.

Dawn’s mum Carol Hirst, 58, said: “I only work 17 hours a week and we’re not entitled to any help. There’s still £1,029 outstanding and it’s not like the funeral director is pressurising us, but I don’t like owing money to anyone and it’s one more thing to worry about at an already difficult time.”

Carol said Dawn was a devoted mother to her son Lewis, 15.

She said: “Her son was her life. She would do anything for him.

“She also had a good group of close friends and she’d always put other people before herself.”

She added: “She was very bubbly. She was always smiling, all her friends have told me that they miss her smile.”

Dawn had a history of suffering from blood clots and was unable to work because of the condition. Carol doesn’t know whether a clot was responsible for her death, as the Post Mortem was inconclusive.

She said: “An inquest will take place but we have to wait until January 24, so till then we have no idea what happened. For a few weeks she’d been saying she didn’t feel quite right, but I saw her at 4pm on August 12 and seemed okay.

"At 12.21pm on August 13 I got a phone call from her friend asking me to go over immediately. He had found her collapsed on the floor.”

To donate, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/dawn-hirsts-funeral-costs