Family and friends of Tammy Smith will always remember her as a loving and truly devoted mum.
Tammy had started a family shortly after leaving Bedford College with her ex-husband Paul Junker.
Unfortunately the marriage didn’t work out and the couple divorced, though they had three children together.
But Tammy was to go on and enrich the lives of her former partner Dodge – who she also had three children with – and that of her partner Matt Gibson.
She loved being a mum and was also close to the children or her friends.
Her friend Bev Anderson, who also lives in Stratton Way said: “She was like a sister to me and was also like a mother to my five children.
“I went through quite a difficult time when my daughter Kianna was born and I had to have an emergency Caesarian.
“But Tammy was the sort of friend you could rely on at any time and she was by my side in the hospital in the early hours of the morning.”
Fun-loving Tammy, a former Stratton Upper School student was also a keen bingo player and enjoyed karaoke as well.
Her mum Jenny Lingley said: “She went down to Flutters in Biggleswade quite a lot and she also liked to go to the karaoke nights at the Red Lion pub in Biggleswade too.
“She wasn’t a great singer but she always had a great time and would bring a lot to the occasion!”
Tammy’s family and friends are still in shock after her condition deteriorated rapidly during the family holiday.
Matt said: “She had been getting stomach pains in the days before we left but we didn’t think it was anything too serious.
“Then they went away but they came back a day or so into the holiday.
“By the third day she was feeling quite weak and it was clear that she was going to need to see a doctor.
“We thought it may have been gastroenteritis or something like that but we weren’t sure.”
Doctors and the coroner were so unfamiliar with toxic shock syndrome that they had to do some research on it before the diagnosis.
Jenny said: “They said that they would not normally see a case of it more than once in every five years or so. But once it takes hold it can develop very quickly.”