TRIBUTES have been paid to a mother-of-five who has died aged 42.

Friends and family are rallying to raise funds to give Nicola Chadwick from Breightmet, Bolton, a fitting send-off. She died on February 15 ­from pneumonia.

Family friends Angela and Colin Sharpe decided to start a Go Fund Me page to help with the costs of a funeral. The mum of five boys collapsed at her partner’s home with no indication she had been unwell.

It was first thought she had suffered a heart attack, but the cause of death was revealed to be pneumonia, according to the friend.

Mrs Sharpe said: “Her family were really struggling so I set up a Go Fund Me page to help them. She was not only my best friend, she was my sister too, one that I never had.

“We were so close and we knew what each other was thinking.”

The former nurse leaves five boys, the youngest aged 16, and Ms Sharpe is concerned how they will cope with the loss.

She said: “It is just really heart-breaking they are now without her and now we all want to make sure she gets a send-off that she deserves. Nicola put everybody else before herself. She was at home going about her usual day when she collapsed and did not wake up again.

“She didn’t know she had pneumonia. We thought it was a heart attack, nobody knew anything. It is just heart-breaking for all of us who knew and loved her.”

The family are said to be struggling to pay for the former Mencap volunteer’s funeral costs. Ms Sharpe said: “We are all doing our best, but it is a struggle for everyone to find the money for the costs of the funeral. I had not seen her for a couple of weeks and I had no idea she was not well, we are all in shock.

“I have known her for about 19 years. We met because we used to walk to school on the school run and pass each other on the way, and we did it so often that when I was late she would say that I was late, and we got chuckling to each other.

“We used to have a race to see who would get to school first.

“For two days she put everything on hold and came to Whitworth where I was giving birth to my daughter.”

To donate to the fundraiser visit gofundme.com/f/nicola-chadwick039s-send-off-fund