Family's emotional tribute to Kirkcaldy nurse who died after giving birth to her first child

Shannon Napier passed away in the early hours of Saturday after her daughter Abbie, was born last Friday night.

Shannon, who worked as a theatre nurse at Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, was just 24 years old.

A post mortem is due to be held this week but it is understood the former Fair Isle Primary and Kirkcaldy High pupil suffered a cardiac arrest and other complications a few hours after giving birth.

Her mum Tracy De Munck Mortier said she is still in shock at losing her daughter: “Shannon was my best friend as well as my daughter, I’m going to be lost without her. We were like sisters and we did everything together.”

Her fiance, Jordan Burt (26), who she lived with in Methil, said: “We first met on April 25, 2009 and there was an instant, unexplainable connection between us. We just knew we wanted to be with each other for the rest of our lives and we were planning to get married on April 25 next year. It was always our date.

“To be told that Abbie would be born on April 25 was just incredible. It is now ironic that is the date Shannon died, it’s a date I will never forget. I don’t think it has sunk in yet.”

He continued: “You don’t expect to go into hospital on the Friday morning with your pregnant fiance to give birth and then leave on the Sunday afternoon without her. I expected to leave as a family of three but I was walking out that door on my own with the baby, it just wasn’t what I was expecting.

In a direct tribute to her Jordan said: “I just want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. As the lyrics go, “you are the reason I breathe, you are the reason I still believe” – you are my amazing #NHSHero.”

He said he and the family have been overwhelmed by donations to a fundraiser for a memorial service for Shannon, which has already raised over £17,000.

The money will also be used to buy gifts for Abbie.

Jordan said: “She was compassionate and she was always putting everyone else first. I don’t think she realised the impact she had on other people, professionally and socially.

“She achieved so much in her life – she always said she was the first in her family to go to uni – and she made her family so proud. She gave 110 per cent to everything she did.

“But Shannon always wanted to be a mum and was so excited to be one. She was a mum for a short period of time, that was her biggest achievement.

He added: “She was the first person to hold Abbie, so she got to be a mum which is what she always wanted.”

To make a donation to the fundraiser for Shannon and Abbie visit: www.gofundme.com and search for Shannon’s memorial and Abbie’s hamper.