EILEEN Cramond's world changed forever when she came home from work one day to find her husband dead on their kitchen floor after having a heart attack.

She had been married to her beloved Noel for 17 years and they had lived together in Leigh for more than a year.

South African native Noel, who died aged 59 on February 11, had been living with an irregular heartbeat for seven years and suffered with aertic stenosis severe left valve dysfunction

To help with her loss, NHS health improvement practitioner Eileen, 57, looked into seeing if there were any bereavement support groups for under 60s.

But she discovered most groups included members who were much older than her.

Grandmother-of-six Eileen took to social media in early March asking if there are other people in her situation and volunteered to start a group.

And she was surprised by the reaction it got, with more than 540 likes and hundreds of comments.

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Eileen said: "The response I got was absolutely huge.

"It was really nice getting nice messages from people that do not know me

"It is different when you lose someone when you are younger and still working.

"It is nice to speak to someone your age about it.

"Since I have been on my own it has been difficult but my neighbours have been fantastic."

Eileen has many happy memories of being with mechanic engineer Noel.

"Noel was such a lovely and caring person," Eileen said.

"He was a massive animal lover and stopped to chat to anyone in the street.

"I could not believe how many people came to his funeral."

With Government restrictions in place to tackle coronavirus at the moment, Eileen's plans to set up a support group have been put on hold.

To contact Eileen about setting up a group in the near future or for advice on dealing with organisation involved in funerals such as Bereavement Allowance, formerly Widow's Pension, email eileen.cramond@yahoo.com.