Fully vaccinated mother-of-two dies in her sleep just HOURS after testing positive to Covid – with her only symptoms being a runny nose and sore throat
A beloved mother-of-two, who’d had four Covid vaccinations, died just hours after testing positive to the virus.
Sydney healthcare worker Melanie Leffler, 39, passed away unexpectedly in her sleep on November 19.
She had tested positive on a rapid test that day, with her husband Mick saying she only had ‘a running nose and a slightly sore throat’.
Her brother Kris Leffler said the family has yet to receive the coroner’s report but believes her sudden death may be due to complications with her heart.
Inflammation of the heart muscle and the tissue surrounding the heart, known as myocarditis and pericarditis, can in rare cases be caused by Covid vaccines, but is also a result of the virus itself.
Kris described his sister as one of the ‘hardest working, goal-oriented, strongest-willed women’ he ever knew.
Her brother Kris Leffler (second from right) said the family has yet to receive the coroner’s report but believes his sister’s sudden death may be heart-related
‘No one should be burying a partner, sister or daughter at 39,’ he told Seven News.
Ms Leffler had overcome losing a kidney to a rare form of cancer when she was just 12-months-old, which inspired her own desire to study medical science.
She went on to become a genetic counsellor for NSW Health.
‘Mel always wanted a beautiful family but was fearful that her chemotherapy in early life may have affected her reproductive system, but she took time out of her hectic work schedule to try and begin a family,’ her brother Kris said.
Her shattered family and friends paid tribute to the beloved mum in a series of gut-wrenching social media posts.
Tributes have poured in for the young mum after she sadly passed away on November 19
‘Roz and I lost our beautiful, intelligent and loving 39-year-old daughter, Mel, overnight. To say we’re shocked and deeply saddened would be an understatement,’ wrote her father Wayne.
‘We’re devastated – things will never be the same.’
Her younger brother Joel wrote of his sudden shock.
‘I was never meant to be writing this until we were old and grey… but 39 is far far too soon,’ he said.
‘Our family will never be the same without you Melly – fly high my big sis.’
The family also launched a GoFundMe to support Ms Leffler’s husband in raising their young family.
Mick is now left to raise the couple’s two daughters, Clementine, four, and Lottie, who is just nine-months-old.
‘We are all very confused and saddened that such a young mother, daughter, sister, niece and friend’s life has ended so tragically early,’ family member Nicole Leffler wrote in the fundraiser’s description.
Ms Leffler’s husband Mick (pictured together) is now left to raise the couple’s two daughters, Clementine, four, and Lottie, who is just nine-months-old
A friend and co-worker, Emma, described knowing Ms Leffler as a ‘treasure’.
‘Words cannot describe how much I will miss this incredible beautiful mum, colleague and friend,’ she wrote.
‘Her warmth, intelligence and kindness has been such a treasure for me.’
Another former colleague, Mona, said Ms Leffler was ‘a smart, kind and warm person who always had a smile on her face’.
‘I can only imagine the incredible mum she became and the joy she would have had in seeing her beautiful family grow.’
The fundraiser had raised $25,505 of its $35,000 goal as of Saturday evening.
