Mother dies after she stubs toe in the street

A MOTHER-of-two has died after she stubbed her toe on an uneven pavement and the wound became infected.

Kirsty Keenan, 35, cut her toe when she tripped in the street near her home in Leith. She died just over a month later at the Western General Hospital after developing septicaemia.

Her partner, James Raeburn, 31, found her unconscious at their home in Portland Street, Leith, after collecting their children, Terrilea, 11, and three-year-old James, from school.

The day before - four days after she had tripped in nearby Madeira Street - she had called doctors to the house after experiencing searing pains in her legs.

But no-one connected the pain to her stubbed toe and the doctor recommended painkillers.

Surgeons amputated both her legs in an effort to save her, but she died as a result of a previously undetected heart condition.

Mr Raeburn, Ms Keenan's partner of 13 years, said: "It all just happened so suddenly and we can't believe she's gone.

"She had an absolute heart of gold, nothing was too much to ask of her, and she got on with everyone. We are so proud the way she fought for a month and three days."

Ms Keenan - who worked as a cleaner at Fort Primary School - had been taking a friend's three-week-old child for a walk when she tripped. She experienced some pain in her foot in the days immediately after, but had thought nothing of it until the severe pains shot up her leg.

Mr Raeburn recalled finding her unconscious in bed the day after the doctor called.

"She was facing the wrong way and when I pulled the covers back I saw her legs were blue and her mouth looked unusual, as if she'd been poisoned or something," he said.

"Me and my children were absolutely hysterical. She wouldn't respond and we had no idea what to do, they were begging her to wake up. We called an ambulance and when we all got to hospital they put Kirsty into an induced coma."

She died on May 12 with Mr Raeburn and their children at her bedside. "She could hear what we were saying and was able to make kissing signals towards us, but by the end she was hanging on.

"Because of a rare heart condition that we'd never known about, the valves in her heart burst and caused a bigger clot in her brain.

"I was told on the Friday night that her condition had worsened and spent the night there, then the next day I was begging her to please hang on so the kids could come and see her.

"She held on and held on and eventually they made it here.

"Terrilea spoke to her and said she knew her mum would look after her from heaven, then I had to just say to them to leave now because it was time for mummy to go.

"They then switched the machine off and the colour in her face just totally changed."

He added: "My kids have handled it so well, I'm really proud of them. My priority now is to get the kids checked out in case the heart condition is hereditary."