A British woman holidaying with her lover in the Caribbean on Christmas Eve died just days after arriving from an aggressive form of leukaemia she didn't even know she had.
The only warning sign Gemma Battersby received was a headache two days before her death while kayaking with her boyfriend Gavin de Souza in Trinidad, the Daily Mail reports.
The 26-year-old, who had just completed a physiotherapy degree at a London college, was rushed to the hospital after the headache worsened.
She slipped into unconsciousness while her mother Barbara rushed from England to be by her daughter's side.
Ms Battersby never woke up.
Doctors said she had succumbed to an aggressive form of leukemia — a cancer she wasn't aware she had.
Her devastated mother and sister Victoria collected Ms Battersby's physiotherapy graduation certificate last week, describing it as the hardest thing they've ever had to do.
"I know she was my daughter, but she was just amazing," Mrs Battersby was quoted as saying.
"She did everything and was so independent. She wanted so much out of life."
Her boyfriend Mr de Souza posted a photograph on her Facebook profile page, which was taken just hours before her death.
The 32-year-old personal trainer wrote: "This is Sunday morning. We went kayaking for about an hr [sic]. The same day she went into hospital. She was so happy."
And on her profile page he wrote: "I spent the last year or so doing everything with you and now everything I do is with you in my thoughts."
Ms Battersby had recently secured a job as a physiotherapist, which she was about to start.
Hundreds of mourners packed a church in her local town of Bournemouth in England's south for her funeral earlier this month.
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