A globe-trotting young woman had her life tragically cut short after she suffered a cardiac arrest and died at her parents’ home after a night of dinner and ‘playing cards’. Australian Daniella Jade Duchatel, 26, was recovering from surgery staying with her family in Moreton Bay, Queensland, when it’s believed a blood clot that had formed travelled to her lung causing a pulmonary embolism on Sunday, May 21.
Ms Duchatel’s heartbroken mother Kay posted on Facebook the next day: “It is with the greatest sadness that I inform you all that our daughter Daniella Jade Duchatel passed away peacefully last night.
“We will update you all with funeral details in the coming days. Please give us some time to come to terms with our loss. Thank you.”
A GoFundMe page set up in Ms Duchatel’s memory and to help with funeral costs has reached nearly £9,000 since it was started by friend Chantelle Lay.
On the page which has been flooded with donations, Chantelle wrote: “On the 21st of May, Dani tragically and suddenly passed away. She had spent the night with family having dinner and playing cards.
“Dani had surgery a few weeks prior as she had recently broken her leg. Due to the surgery a blood clot had formed that travelled to her lung and caused a pulmonary embolism. As a result, Dani went into cardiac arrest and couldn’t be saved.”
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Ms Duchatel is understood to have recently made plans to move into a new home, and friends said she had a dog and ‘adopted a new kitten’.
Posting on her Facebook page at the end of January Ms Duchatel wrote: “After months of stress and excitement and confusion I am finally a home owner.
“Settlement of my very own apartment has been completed and I am so excited and nervous to start this new chapter.”
Speaking to the Courier-Mail Ms Lay said her friend Ms Duchatel had “plans to travel more and see the world” and that she was a “very empathetic and kind human being” and “a real gentle soul”.
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