In a tragic twist of fate, Caroline Ramsay, 40, has shared the heartbreaking and poignant story of losing her fiancé, Jason Horsfall, just three weeks before their wedding. As Caroline copes with this unimaginable loss, she holds close a small miracle—she’s carrying Jason’s child, a “last gift” she describes as both comforting and bittersweet.
The couple’s story began like any other day on October 10, when Jason, 41, woke up with what he described as “heartburn.” Caroline suggested he take some Gaviscon and paracetamol, but his discomfort lingered. As a last resort, he decided to visit the Morrisons petrol station near their home in Retford, Nottinghamshire, to buy some aspirin, hoping it would relieve the pain. Tragically, Jason never returned, according to the Mirror.
“Jason woke up like any other morning, totally fine,” Caroline recalls. “But he said he had a bit of heartburn—he’s suffered with it before. He made himself some breakfast, but the pain came back again, and he said, ‘This heartburn is killing me.'”
She urged him to call an ambulance, but he insisted on going out himself, crossing the street to the local garage. Sadly, on his way back, Jason collapsed. A passerby noticed him on the ground and immediately began CPR, while emergency services rushed to the scene.
As paramedics worked tirelessly to revive Jason, Caroline, whose home is just a short distance away, was alerted to the situation. “I had this gut-wrenching feeling,” she said. “I ran outside, and the first thing I saw was Jason’s trainers. I screamed at the top of my lungs, ran over to him, and was trying to comfort him. There were quite a lot of people around, helping with CPR.”
The paramedics managed to revive Jason twice, but his heart kept failing. Caroline stayed with him in the ambulance, holding his hand. “I went to the back of the ambulance and held his hand the whole way while they put a scan on his heart to see if there was any activity,” she said. Despite their efforts, Jason was pronounced dead at 4:35 pm. Caroline remained with him until the coroner arrived to take his body.
Just four days later, on October 14, Caroline took a pregnancy test after feeling unwell—and discovered she was carrying Jason’s child. The news brought a wave of mixed emotions, from grief to hope. “I felt absolutely numb, but then it felt like a miracle,” she said. “It’s like a last gift from Jason. It’s comforting to know I have a part of him growing inside me.”
Their love story, which began in 2018 when they met at an Asda supermarket, was filled with laughter, connection, and a shared future. Engaged in 2020, they had been eagerly planning their wedding for years. Reflecting on their relationship, Caroline said, “He was amazing; he couldn’t do enough for me.”
To help their 20-month-old daughter, Paignton, understand her father’s absence, Caroline has been gentle in her explanations. “I told her Jason is now ‘a star in the sky.’ There are photos of us around the flat, and she’ll point, saying, ‘Dada.'”
As Caroline navigates her grief, she clings to the memory of Jason and the life growing inside her. “When I feel really down and I can’t stop crying, I just think that I’ve got a part of him growing inside of me,” she shared.