An Australian family has been left without answers after a mother-of-four died suddenly in her sleep while her children were unwrapping Christmas presents.
Ashley Stanik, 33, woke up on Christmas morning feeling unwell.
She told her husband Kane Stanik she was going to lie down.
“She had a drink and that, I had a quick talk to her,” Mr. Stanik, told A Current Affair on Friday.
“She asked me to film the kids [unwrapping] the presents and she would watch it when she wakes up.”
But sadly, she never did.
Around mid-afternoon, Stanik was “horrified” when he discovered his wife unresponsive in bed, just feet away from the family.
“I was in shock,” he shared.
“I just did compressions till my arms, man, they were gone, I couldn’t move them by the time the ambulance got here.”
Stanik said he took his four children, aged 17, 12, eight and four, across the road to break the devastating news, where they had a “cuddle and a cry”.
“[I] took them down to McDonald’s and that just to get them away so that they didn’t have to see anything,” he added.
A week on, the family have been left with questions after an autopsy report came back inconclusive.
All they know is that Stanik – who has been remembered as a “loving mother” – had suffered flu or cold-like symptoms before she died.
“She said that she had like a cold for a bit rundown and was just excited about Christmas,” Stanik’s mother, Frances Edwards, told the program.
“There’s no goodbyes, there’s no nothing, [she’s] just gone.”
Stanik also said his wife, who worked in childcare, had previously suffered stomach issues and an enlarged spleen in the past.
While coming to terms with the sudden loss, the family said they’ve faced “horrible” accusations online about the mother-of-four’s cause of death.
“[People are] saying horrible s–t, like she’s a drug user she OD’ed,” said Stanik.
He admitted the pair had a “colorful life” before children and he’d spent time in prison and battled substance abuse in the past.
However, he stressed the couple were clean and were not drinking when Stanik died.
Speaking to The Courier Mail last week, Stanik’s sister-in-law, Cassandra Stanik, said the children were struggling to cope with the unexpected loss of their mum.
“I think the two middle girls, 12 and eight, are still in a bit of shock because they don’t seem to understand what has happened,” she told the publication.
“The youngest one, four, is still a bit too young to fully understand, but she isn’t taking it well that mummy isn’t there when she wakes up”.
The family is waiting for further test results, which could take months.
In the meantime, a GoFundMe has been set up to support the family.
Over $7,600 [Australian, 5,104.92 USD] has been raised at the time of publication.