soon weeks after dislocating her knee and soon before she was scheduled to move in with her fiance, a beautician passed away.
On January 16, Gemma Harries abruptly lost consciousness, experienced cardiac arrest, and passed away at the age of just 31 due to blood clots in her leg and chest.
She passed away at the house of her lover, Joseff Edwards, in Whitland, Carmarthenshire, despite the fact that emergency personnel, including Wales Air Ambulance, flocked to the site.
Gemma had resided with her mother Joyce and father Hugh, but she was about to move in with 29-year-old Joseff the week before she fell ill.
Gemma from Nantgaredig dislocated her knee in November while she was abroad with friends at a hen party. She was treated at a Yeovil hospital.
Even after receiving further care, the edoema persisted when she got home.
The couple was unaware that she had deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary thromboembolism.
“It wasn’t really something we ever thought would happen from a dislocated knee, but it did. I don’t think any of us knew what a blood clot looks like or the side effects,” Joseff told WalesOnline.
He continued: “We know what to look out for when it’s a heart attack or a stroke. People really would know what to look for but with a blood clot I think it’s totally different. Now, looking at it, you’d see the signs if you knew.”
Tragically, Gemma had planned a surprise trip for the pair to Rome a week before her tragic demise.
He said: “She booked that probably about a week before she passed away. She thought we were both going to go and I didn’t know about it until afterwards.”
Remembering Gemma, he added: “She was lovely. She was the best. You can’t really describe her with words because the first time meeting her you’d feel you’d known her for a long, long time. She was just really homely and down to earth. She’d help anyone out.”
Joseff and Gemma met in 2020 after lockdown, spending their first date together at Llansteffan beach.
They went on their second date in a Morrison’s parking lot in Carmarthen when the restrictions were reinstated. “We had a Starbucks and chatted through a window there,” Joseff added. “We parked our cars next door to each other.”
They started dating in the end of 2021.
Joseff is currently raising money for the Wales Air Ambulance, who rushed to save Gemma’s life, as his first birthday without her approaches.
Initially hoping to earn £4,000, he said he was “overwhelmed” by the reaction and has almost raised $10,000.
He continued: “I just think it’s something that she would want me to do. With my birthday, she’s already planned what was happening. She planned an open house and family get together, she booked a hotel.
“We’re carrying on with the plans and I thought [the fundraiser] would be doing something good out of a horrible situation, just for her, and I think she’d be proud of that.”
