Mum was told her symptoms were 'nothing to worry about' - but was dead seven weeks later

A family was hit by tragedy when a mum, who was told her pain was "nothing to worry about", died from just seven weeks later.

Catherine Vaughan, 49, had lost over five stone, had no appetite and was "abnormally" vomiting when she was diagnosed with coeliac disease. Her daughter, Jade Acton, 30, from Walton, Merseyside, said her mum began experiencing stomach pains, which they initially attributed to the grief of losing Jade's dad.

She said: "They were never aggressive pains but they were always there, she also lost a lot of weight. But in between all of this my dad passed away. She added: "She went to the doctors about the pains and weight loss, they took her bloods and she was told she had type two diabetes.

"We put her on a diet and started giving her the right foods but nothing changed. We were told it was nothing to worry about and just to be careful of the pancreas and things like that.

"We felt reassured knowing it was just coeliac and there was nothing to worry about. We altered her diet and thought things would be OK but the weight continued to drop off her. At this point she had lost around five stone."

Jade revealed her mum was becoming "more and more ill," and said she knew "something wasn't right, reports the . Jade said: "We went back to the doctors and they sent her for a scan, she said to me 'I feel like something's wrong. ' I reassured her that it was just coeliac and that we can live with that."

However, the scans tragically revealed that Catherine was suffering from pancreatic cancer. Jade recalled. "We got the results over the phone, I remember the voice on the phone saying 'you've got pancreatic cancer. 'My heart just shattered, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't believe it.

"I felt like I was in a bad nightmare, like it was real. This is my 49 year old mum who now all of a sudden has. I was in disbelief, it was horrendous. I knew it was the number one killer."

After the shocking diagnosis, Jade revealed her mum "wasn't eating" and "lost all of her appetite." She described: "Her stomach had swollen, she looked nine-month-pregnant.

She had deteriorated, she couldn't speak. She was a bag of bones. She was in hospital for two weeks and we got a phone call to go in and she died, just seven weeks after her diagnosis. "It was absolutely horrendous, the most horrible thing I've ever had to go through in my life.

It was a bad nightmare, having to watch my mum suffer like that is the most painful thing I could ever go through. "Jade said her mum being "one of a kind," she expressed: "She was the light of everyone's life, she was the glue to the family and the centre of everyone's .

She was a happy go lucky person, who was loved by everyone. "She only had to walk into the room and she would make everyone's day. She made everyone happy, she was the best mum and nan to my two children."