Sonia Partridge, 35, passed away in hospital with her heartbroken wife and mum by her side on Tuesday. Devastated partner Kerry-Ann said: “I can’t get her face out of my head and I don’t want to ever forget her”.
Their 13 children’s “dad” said Sonia was “bullied for being so big”, but “gave us all the confidence to not care what anyone thought”.
Sonia had two children of her own and Kerry-Ann had six, with their other five being from a sperm donor.
Fighting back tears, Kerry-Ann, of Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, said: “I just walk into a room and expect to see her and she’s not there.
“I’m watching the younger children running around like nothing has changed, and it’s very hard to accept she’s never going to see them grow up.”
Sonia, who had underlying health conditions, was rushed to hospital on Friday and could only manage “one or two words”.
Fighting back tears, Kerry-Ann said: “She got too tired, and decided she would take the oxygen mask off and she went really quickly after that.”
She revealed they had been served an eviction notice by their landlords, and have set up a fundraiser to cover Sonia’s funeral costs and help them through the winter.
Meera Jo, 16, saw her mum in hospital before she died and said “there’s never going to be enough words” to pay tribute to her.
She said: “It’s left a massive hole in all our lives.
“It’s hard telling the little ones she’s gone away with the angels and she’s not coming home.
“No matter how hard things were for her, she always put everyone else first, and now she’s gone.
“We just feel numb, and other times we are just crying and can’t stop crying.
“And when we laugh now, it feels wrong because she’s not here to laugh with us.”
Kerry-Ann said she, Meera and the other children, the youngest of whom is two years old, are coping with their loss by doing activities Sonia enjoyed.
She said: “We’re doing the housework and getting the Christmas decorations out.
“Sonia loved Christmas, it was her favourite time of year. She put so much magic into everything she did.