By Christine Lavelle
THE funeral of a mum who died tragically on a family holiday is to be held tomorrow (Fri), in her hometown of Dunfermline.
Karen McArthur, 40, passed away a day into her Corfu holiday, after battling severe kidney problems for her whole life.
The day she died was coincidentally 20 years to the day since meeting her husband Gordon, with whom she had seven-year-old Adam and helped to raise Marie, 27, Gordon’s daughter from a previous relationship.
Karen’s dad, Alex Anderson, said: “She had had this period in hospital and felt they all needed a break and that it would do them all good.
“Despite fighting her problem for 40 years and fighting it well, it had finally caught up with her.
“She had terrific drive and unbelievable determination.
“Whatever happened to her, she never let it get her down and was determined to make as normal life as possible.”
Mrs McArthur, a qualified nurse and palliative care facilitator for NHS Forth Valley, became ill after her arriving in Corfu on 3 August.
Her plane had been delayed for almost 12 hours and during that time she began to feel unwell.
Upon landing, Mrs McArthur went directly to hospital, where an initial report showed her blood count was low.
The family was told that after a couple of days they would be able to continue with their holiday – but – the following day Mrs McArthur died in hospital.
Mr McArthur said: “I got a call about 11am on my mobile asking me to come to the hospital right away but by the time I arrived it was too late.
“It was totally unexpected and it was 20 years to the day we had first met that she died.”
He said his wife had been a devoted mother to Adam, and looked upon Marie as he own.
He said: “Marie’s forever grateful for the guidance and love that Karen gave to her.
“Karen called Adam our little miracle – we never thought we’d have children because of her problems.”
