‘Incredible mum’ Emily Moss, 34, tragically died last year, and now her husband Nathan plans to climb Mount Toubkal, North Africa’s highest peak, in her memory
The husband of a beloved mum who suddenly died has shared how he plans to honour her memory on the first anniversary of her passing.
Emily Moss, described as an “incredible mum” and a “very giving person” from Burnage, Greater Manchester, died in November 2024 from sudden heart failure after dropping off the couple’s then four-year-old daughter at a dancing lesson.
To mark the anniversary, her husband Nathan, 34, will climb Mount Toubkal – North Africa’s highest peak at 13,671 feet – to raise money for Trafford Domestic Abuse Services (TDAS), a charity where Emily once worked.
Speaking about Emily’s heart condition, peripartum cardiomyopathy, Nathan said: “When she gave birth to Isobel we found out she had this heart condition. It was probably the hardest time we had together, because we’d gone from being just us two to then having a newborn, and then finding out about Emily’s heart condition on top of that. Her condition was managed through medication. Her last check-up before she died was in August, and by all accounts everything was where it should be.”
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He added: “We always knew it was a possibility that it could happen, but because of the positive results from the tests, it wasn’t really something that was ever at the forefront of our minds. Emily had taken Isobel to dancing, came home, and went upstairs to get ready to go shopping with her mum. Her mum thought she was taking a bit too long, went upstairs and she’d had a heart attack on the floor.”
Nathan was at work in Birmingham when Emily’s mum found her upstairs, Manchester Evening News reports. When he arrived at the hospital in Greater Manchester, he sensed something was wrong.
“I wasn’t told that she’d died. I was told that she’d collapsed. But when I got to the hospital, I was ushered into a side room, and I knew she’d died, because if she hadn’t, I’d have been taken straight to her,” he said.
Nathan described the funeral in December as “packed” with around 300 people and many standing outside in the cold. “It was a nice reminder of how liked she was, how many people’s lives she’d touched,” he said.
The couple, who met at high school and started dating when they were 16 and 17, married on November 27, 2018, and had been planning to have a second child before tragedy struck.
Now Nathan is keeping Emily’s memory alive by raising money for the domestic abuse charity.
“She was a very giving person. She never really held a grudge. She would move mountains to help other people – often to her own demise. I’m trying to be a bit more Emily – just being a bit more open, helping people, being a bit more patient,” he said.
“Being a mum was probably the best thing about her, because all the patience she had for everybody else went into being a parent. She was great. I didn’t know what I was doing, and she was just great. She was an incredible parent, an incredible mum and that’s credit to her mum as well.
“One of the hardest things I’ve struggled with since she died is doing things the way that Emily would have done it. And the hardest thing for me to learn – and that I’m still learning every day – is how to do my little girl’s hair. Regrettably, as a dad, it’s something that I just let her mum do. Her best friend actually booked me onto a hairdressing course for dads.”
Nathan will climb Mount Toubkal in Morocco from November 28 to 29 with his close friend Will Sargison. In just a week, his GoFundMe has raised over £2,000, with all donations going directly to TDAS to help rehouse victims of domestic violence.
“These two weeks are always tricky – my birthday’s on the 24th, our anniversary is the 27th, and then the anniversary of her passing is on the 9th. It’s a nice way for me to remember Emily, and for other people to remember her too – by helping others,” he said.
Nathan and his family are also planning to surprise Isobel and her cousins with a trip to Disneyland over the anniversary weekend of Emily’s passing.