The family of a Chester woman who launched a fundraising campaign to bring her terminally ill mum home to England, say they are ‘truly devastated’ that she herself passed away just weeks after her mother’s funeral.

Claire Taylor campaigned tirelessly to raise enough funds to grant the final wish of her mum Sarah, who wanted to return home to Vicars Cross from where she lived in Spain to die peacefully after a battle with terminal cancer.

Scores of people donated to the appeal to transport Sarah back to the UK after her family were unable to secure travel insurance, and while she never did make it home, the money was vital in paying for nursing care and equipment to make her feel comfortable.

Claire Taylor with mum Sarah Kaye who died of cancer weeks before Claire's death

Now two months later in a tragic turn of events, 37-year-old Claire, the main instigator in the campaign, has died suddenly of a chest infection following a lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis (CF) – leaving her family heartbroken.

Speaking to The Chronicle, her brother David Kaye said Claire’s death had come as a huge shock and believes their mother’s death had had an effect on her.

He said: “Claire obviously suffered with cystic fibrosis and had been ill most of this year but it was still a shock when she died; we didn’t envisage it would happen so soon. We believe the setback of mum’s death affected her – she was even on oxygen at Mum’s funeral. The day after that she was back at Broadgreen Hospital where she regularly went for her treatment.

“Some of us have said the loss of mum was just too much for her. I wouldn’t say she gave up but it was a long battle – she was born with CF and back then the life expectancy was a teenager. Now it’s 34 so she had done amazingly to get to 37.”

Claire, who was married to Steve, her partner of 22 years, had no children and worked at MBNA, who David said have always been ‘truly fantastic’ to Claire.

Claire Taylor and husband Steve on her wedding day

“They offered more support than any company I know, allowing her time off for hospital appointments. Claire never moaned about having CF, in fact it was easy to forget she had it. She had such a wide network of friends, I’m amazed by how many she had.

“We hope as many people as possible will come to her funeral at Blacon Crematorium on Friday, September 4, at 1.20pm – we want it to be packed to the rafters.”

David, a senior manager at Tesco on Frodsham Street, added: “The fund Claire campaigned for made such an absolutely huge difference, helping with the language barrier and support network. Mum knew a lot of people and was so pleased about the fund. We had much of it left over which we donated to CF. We would appreciate any donations from Claire’s funeral to go to the CF Trust too.

“Her death is such a massive loss to our family. We have been overwhelmed with support and words of comfort and I would like to make a special mention to the dedicated CF Amanda Unit at Broadgreen Hospital – those ladies do a difficult job incredibly well,” he added.

Claire leaves behind her husband Steve and siblings David, Martin, Vicky and Fiona Temple.