Grieving mother found dead by family

Published on Tuesday 8 July 2008 22:16

A MOTHER who never recovered from the death of her teenage daughter has been found dead.

Muriel McClelland, 43, was left devastated when her daughter Jennifer Curran, 15, died of a stomach bug on Christmas Day 2006.

The mother – who also had a 17-year-old son Sean – had recently confided in friends that she had struggled to come to terms with Jennifer's death.

And it emerged family members had found her dead in her Alloa home last month.

A close friend said: "Muriel appeared to be coping with losing Jennifer, but inside she was crumbling.

"Deep down she wasn't dealing with it at all. She was just really, really sad."

Jennifer suffered from cyclical neutropenia, a painful blood disorder which made it difficult for her body to fight infection.

On Christmas Eve 2006, she was admitted to Stirling Royal Infirmary with a stomach bug. Doctors kept her in overnight, convinced she would be allowed home the next day.

But early on Christmas morning she lost her battle with the disease as the virus turned into deadly blood poisoning.

Her mother was at her bedside and revealed at the time that her last memory of her daughter was her laughing as she tried to pull her oxygen mask away from her face.