A man thought that his wife was just taking an afternoon nap on the sofa in the living room at home in Hougang as she was asleep throughout.

He only realised 10 hours later, when he tried to wake her up but to no avail, that she had passed away from a heart attack.

Husband only found her dead 10 hours later

At the funeral wake, he told Lianhe Wanbao in tears that his wife had been constantly worried about him and their son when she was alive, both of whom have been unemployed for some time.

According to the 48-year-old man, his wife had been suffering from schizophrenia for over 10 years, and had a scheduled visit to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) on the day of the incident on Aug. 27, but decided to stay at home as she was not feeling well.

"I was still chatting with her normally when I came back home around noon that day. She was asleep on the couch at around 2pm, all the way until past midnight," he recalled.

"She remained unresponsive when I called her, and realised that her body was cold when I touched her hand."

He immediately informed his son who was also at home, and called the paramedics.

When the paramedics arrived, the 48-year-old lady was declared dead.

Her family members were informed that her cause of death was a cardiac arrest.

According to her husband, it was possible that she could have passed away soon after she fell asleep, as her body was already stiff when he discovered her.

Family struggled to get by

Volunteers who assisted the family in the woman's funeral matters said that the three family members were staying in a two-room HDB unit in Hougang.

Due to various degrees of mental health issues, all family members were unemployed, and struggled to get by.

An unnamed volunteer revealed that hardly any relatives or friends came to pay respects during the three-day wake.

Her husband shared that his wife had been unemployed for many years due to her mental health issues.

Previously, he worked as a cleaner, but had remained unemployed after the circuit breaker, and stayed at home to take care of his wife.

Regretted not spending more time with mother

Due to her mental issues, the woman's appearance had seemed abnormal, causing her son to avoid going out with her.

Regretting his past actions, he told Lianhe Wanbao: "I hardly went out with her as people would cast weird looks at us. If I could rewind time and start over, I would proudly take her out. But it's too late now."

As he suffers from anxiety issues, he is currently not working, and has been taking medication to treat his illness.

The Chinese daily wrote that her son had been unable to accept her death, possibly due to the side effects of his medication.

"Everyone's telling me that my mother has died, but I can't accept that. She was still fine just a second ago, how could she suddenly be dead?" he said.

Worried about future

The husband lamented: "My wife really loved my son and I. The thing she was most worried about was our family's future."

The husband shared that his wife had tried to seek help from a Member of Parliament for governmental assistance before, and hoped to improve their family's lives.

"We've been relying on government payouts to get by this year, but we're not sure what we can do in the future. I hope that I can find a job at a warehouse or as a delivery man to earn some money to take care of my son," he said.

Top image via Wikipedia