A MUM died suddenly just feet away from her newborn's cot when her brain suddenly switched off due to a rare phenomenon. Daniella Jane, 31, was found dead in bed by her partner Reggie, 29, near their now-nine-month-old son Ronnie in January. 8 Daniella Jane died just feet from her newborn son's cot Credit: PA 8 The epileptic mum passed away suddenly of a rare and unexplained phenomenon Credit: PA Last week, her mum Kerry Cook received the results of Daniella's post-mortem examination, which revealed she died of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP).
The term describes cases where there is no clear reason why a person with epilepsy has died, according to the charity Epilepsy Action. Kerry said she knew nothing about SUDEP until a few months before her daughter passed away, despite having raised two kids with epilepsy and visiting many hospitals over several decades. Had she known about the condition, which kills around 550 people in the UK every year, the heartbroken mum said she would have been more present for Daniella, who was diagnosed with epilepsy aged nine.
At her worst points, she had up to 30 seizures a month. Kerry’s younger daughter Georgia, 26, also has epilepsy and now fears she could suffer the same fate as her sister. Kerry, 51, from Essex, said: "Both of my daughters got epilepsy; one of them had it for 21 years and my other daughter’s had it for 13 years.
"In all that time, I had heard of the word SUDEP but never had anyone explain it to me or what r.