Samantha was 19 when she suddenly died at home during an epileptic fit in July 2009. She only had her first seizure in December 2008 and died during her 6th one. She was such a beautiful daughter and sister and had so much to live for. She played the piano, done ballet and Gymnastics. She swam with dolphins and Scuba dived. When she was 11 years old she had to cope with the death of her Dad whom she loved so much. She even played the piano and recorded a song WORDS for his funeral. She really struggled to cope but still achieved so much at school. She was a very popular girl in and out of school and everyone loved her humour. She was a big sister and was always there for her brother Adam and baby sister Alice. It was Adams 16th birthday the day that she died. Sam had just been out with a friend for Adam and Alice’s birthday present. Alice was only 23 months old but already they had a fantastic relationship. Samantha was not just Alice’s sister she was also her Godmother. Samantha was my bridesmaid when I remarried in 2005 she was also my best friend. She was so pleased that I was getting married and really clicked with Billy from day one. The icing on the cake for us all was when I found out I was pregnant with Alice, she was over the moon. The day Alice was born in August 2007 Billy took Samantha to collect her A S level results up from college. The first glimpse of her baby sister was amazing as were her results. From that day on she took her big sister part very serious and doted on her she took her swimming and to the shops. She passed her driving test at 18 and what a lovely image I recall when I witnessed her taking her brother and sister Christmas shopping in her car. The following year we had an amazing girlie holiday just myself Sam and Alice. She was finding college a real struggle. In December 2008 we received a call from M & S where Sam was working part time to say she had an epileptic fit. I explained that she doesn't have fits but apparently she had one. The following week the same thing happened. This time she was put on medication and was told to surrender her driving license. When we came home from the hospital I remember on the front page of the newspaper was an article saying that John Travolta’s son had just died from an epilepsy related incident. Samantha read it and said that will never happen to me as I will never have a bath whilst on my own, and she never did, we used to even laugh as most of the time she would have a bath with her swimming costume on. Samantha got on with things the best she could but deep down she was upset with all the life changes she had to make. She could no longer have a one to one with Alice whilst taking her swimming she couldn’t look after her or take her to the park on her own and she couldn’t drive after working so hard to get her licence. The one thing she did do was to continue her studies ,as her ambition was to become a social worker. She adored children and in her own words wanted to help the baby P’s in this world ( I believe she is up there now looking after him). We booked a family holiday in Tenerife and all had a lovely time although Sam had a seizure whilst we were there and started worrying about going to Uni to live. She told me that if she had another seizure she would think about delaying Uni until her epilepsy was under control. Sam came back leaving us still there for another week as she wanted to spend time with her friends. She was due to go back again the week after with her friend to celebrate finishing there exams. We came back on the Tuesday evening and Sam was due to go the Friday morning. On the Thursday she was busy getting ready for her holiday, she had just helped me bath Alice and put her to bed kissing her and saying night night. Ten minutes later we heard a thud and went out onto the stairs where Samantha was lay having a fit. I was trying to support her through the seizure as I would normally whilst Billy phoned 999 as we weren’t sure of her injuries. Whilst trying to reassure her that everything was ok . I knew that something wasn’t right I had the telephone in one hand and checking Samantha with the other and I kept telling the operator that there was something wrong. Everything seemed so still there was no snoring process as there normally would be. At this point the paramedics arrived and instantly took over. I knew at this point it was serious and Samantha wasn’t breathing. They started compressions and used a defibulator but nothing changed. They carried on using compressions all the way in the ambulance and at the hospital but still nothing then they asked our permission to stop I asked them to keep trying but deep down we knew. Eventually they stopped and our beautiful daughter was no longer with us. We were devastated and shocked no words can explain what had just happened. Because I was there whilst she had the seizure I can say that I know that she knew nothing about what had happened and I know that she never suffered. The only way that I can explain is it was like a light bulb switching off one minute she was Alive and happy the next, still and gone. This is when our nightmare began we had to start life without our precious daughter. We didn’t know anything about SUDEP at this point so thought that she had died from a head injury or broken neck from the fall down the stairs. The coroner s secretary came to see us after a couple of days to say that they were taking Samantha for a post mortem. This was carried out and the results came back that there were no injuries to Samantha what so ever and that it was natural causes due to the epilepsy. We didn’t t understand. A couple of days later he returned and told us that Samantha had no trace of epilepsy drugs in her system which meant that she hadn' t been taking her medication. We knew this wasn' t true she always took her medication and only minutes before had been counting out how many to take on holiday. We challenged the accusations and a week later we had another visit saying the lab that had been used had shown incorrect blood samples and the new lab shown all the correct dosage was in her system. I felt devastated but relived that the truth was that she had been taking them because I would not be able to deal with the fact that she chose to not take them I can’t really say much about the funeral as I can honestly say it was such a devastating day for us as a family. About 2 weeks after I was reading an article from a local newspaper and noticed a headline about a boy who had died from epilepsy and it gave a contact number for Epilepsy bereaved. After ringing it and talking to Tracy there this is when we found out about SUDEP. The following week the A level results were out and we had to telephone the college to get Samantha s. She achieved everything she needed and more to get to Uni but was never here to see it. We had to take a card a balloon to her graveside instead of celebrating her lifelong achievement. No parent should have to be in this situation. When the results came out on the day the newspapers noticed a message that had been left up about Samantha and came straight to the house to get a story as we kept it from them. It took 10 months for the inquest to be heard and it was like reliving the moment all over again. The verdict was SUDEP and not natural causes as we were at this point aware of SUDEP we asked them to put this n the certificate. We got an apology for the bad practice from the lab results and then left to continue with our life without our special daughter. . I feel that so many friends have gone from our lives since Samantha’s death purely because they avoid us in the street I have been told it’s because they don t know what to say but why not tell me that. Since Samantha s death we have become really involved with Epilepsy bereaved and the staff there have been amazing. I found the forum a really good release for me a way of being able to express myself and also reading about other parents who are in the same boat We have been to various meetings with EB and found them to be an enormous help in our grieving. We have nearly reached our goal of £25000 by doing various charity events the first was a PJ themed Auction night which we had Danny Boyle at and also supported by John Travolta. We have done table top sales, a family fun day, 10k walk, swimathon and this year a Valentines evening for THE LOVE OF SAM. They say time is a healer but personally I believe time just allows us to be able to manage our grieving. We miss Samantha so much and always will. We have just recently moved house as we could no longer live there. I know some people are the opposite but it was like living in that nightmare 24/7. We have since found a great comfort in our new home and bought all sams special things with us, but most of all we brought her in our hearts and all the lovely memories of her. We left all the bad ones behind particularly that night July 16th 2009.