“DID you see what happened to my daughter?”
That is the question being asked by a distraught Hampshire mum after she launched a passionate appeal for witnesses to her daughter’s final footsteps.
Karla Shaw was discovered slumped in bushes after she set out for a shopping trip along Tollbar Way in Hedge End.
The 38-year-old was rushed to Southampton General Hospital after falling and, despite the best efforts of paramedics and a medical team, lost her battle the next day.
Now her mother, Sandra Shaw, has made a heart-felt plea for anyone who saw her fall to come forward as she tries to piece together her daughter’s last movements.
In particular, she is desperate to speak to a passer-by who called the ambulance after Karla fell ill.
Sandra has been told her daughter, who suffered from epilepsy, collapsed and fell into bushes and brambles along the side of the road.
However she does not know exactly where the fall happened – or what led to it.
Multi-organ failure, hyperpyrexia and epilepsy have all been listed as causes of death.
But Sandra is still desperate for a clearer picture of the circumstances surrounding the tragedy as she tries to come to terms with what has happened to her daughter.
She said: “I want to know what happened. Maybe the people who saw her fall can tell me what happened to her.
“I don’t know exactly where along the road she collapsed – I need to know so I can go and put some flowers there.
“This has been terrible. I am devastated by it all and my family is too.
“Karla led a normal life. She was no trouble, she was a good girl.”
Sandra, from West End, is still seeking answers about the nature of Karla’s death and the run-up to her collapse, which happened at 1.15pm on July 13.
The 56-year-old, who visited Karla in hospital before she died, added: “It was awful – she was a mess.
“It looked like she had been kicked by someone.”
Karla, who worked at Holiday Inn and lived with her mother, was a regular traveller and had recently enjoyed trips to the United States and Egypt.
Her grandmother, Daphne Chivers, who lives in Hythe, said: “She was a lovely girl, she had lots of friends and was popular.
“We want closure on this – we want to know what happened to Karla.”
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