‘Healthy’ mum drops dead in Netto in front of son, 5

AN APPARENTLY healthy young mother collapsed and died in a South Yorkshire supermarket while shopping with her five-year-old son.

Shelley Cooper, 34, who had no known health problems, collapsed while talking to a friend during an afternoon shop at Netto in Goldthorpe.

Her son, Luke, was left looking on as shoppers and first-aiders tried to revive his mother, before the boy was led away by staff.

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The single mother, who lived in Goldthorpe, never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at Rotherham General Hospital.

Her sister Lorraine Cooper, 32, said medics told her Miss Cooper died “the moment she hit the floor” although resuscitation attempts momentarily revived her pulse.

She added: “We don’t understand what happened. She had no health problems as far as we knew.

“The doctors have carried out a post-mortem but we’ll have to wait three or four weeks for the results.”

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Miss Cooper revealed that she and her mother were told about her sister’s collapse by a neighbour who worked at the shop.

The dead woman’s mother, also called Lorraine Cooper, said: “I had a call to say she had collapsed in the shop so I went straight round to Netto thinking she had just bumped her head. I was expecting to see her there looking fine and saying ‘don’t make a fuss’.

“I couldn’t understand it or take it in when they told me they had tried everything but there was nothing anybody could do. When I saw her she did not look OK and that image will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Miss Cooper added: “We’ve been told she was talking to a friend about Luke’s return to school after the half-term holidays when she suddenly dropped to the floor.

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“My nephew was led away by staff to the stockroom where they fed him grapes and tried to keep him occupied.

“But he was there long enough to see his mum collapse and see first-aiders cut her clothes away to try and resuscitate her.

“He knows his mummy has gone to sleep and that she won’t wake up.”

Mrs Cooper said: “They worked on her all the way to the hospital. But I just had a feeling she was gone and there was nothing they could do for her.”

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The 34-year-old had only just gone into the store when she collapsed.

Netto manager Andrew Midgley said: “At first staff thought she had just fainted. They had no idea how serious it was.

“A couple of customers with first-aid training rushed to her aid and tried to revive her before the ambulance arrived.

“We shut the store and evacuated everyone while paramedics worked on her, first in the store and then outside She was a regular shopper here and she was well known.”

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Miss Cooper described her sister as a “very quiet person who kept herself to herself, a lovely person”.

She did a lot of charity work and volunteered at a local Salvation Army shop until last Christmas when she gave up the job to look after her son.

Her cremation took place in Barnsley last Friday and an inquest has been opened and adjourned.

Netto staff and customers have already raised £700 for the family with a collection at the tills.

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Luke will now live with his grandmother, who said: “I could not live without him now so he’ll stay here with his nan.”

The family are planning to use the cash to buy a bench for the garden, for Luke to sit on and remember his mother.