A Cambridgeshire mum who was "hysterically funny" and "strong" has died after collapsing with a brain aneurysm while teaching a fitness class. Katy Hancock was "completely and utterly devoted to her kids and husband" and was "one of the most fun people you could ever meet," her father told Cambridgeshire Live.

The 32-year-old, from Witchford, Cambridgeshire collapsed on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, while teaching a fitness bounce class in Chatteris. The school teacher and mum-of-two had an unexpected brain aneurysm and was rushed to Hinchingbrooke Hospital for an MRI scan, before being transferred to Addenbrookes Neuro ICU.

Although “fighting as only Katy can do” she died a week later, on Wednesday, February 1.

Hard news:

I was able to write this story after I came across a tribute for Katy Hancock on a Cambridgeshire based Facebook page, sharing the news that she had sadly passed away. While working at Cambridgeshire Live I would look on these Facebook groups every morning to find a story that would be of interest to our readers. After finding Katy’s tribute, I reached out to her father, Chris Taylor to ask if we could arrange an interview - I had previously met Chris and had been in contact a few months ago for a separate story. I approached him and he agreed to an interview to talk about his daughter’s passing.

When contacting Chris I did it with sympathy and discretion, with the publication handled sensitively, as not to be an intrusion into grief or shock (IPSO clause 4). I underwent the interview with care, consideration and sympathetic, making it clear from the start that Chris should only answer what he feels most comfortable with. Under IPSO, I also made sure that my reporting was accurate (clause 1) and all quotes from Chris were correct.

This story was published on the Cambridgeshire Live homepage on 28.02.23 and received 24.5k page views on the day of publication. It was then picked up by national publications including, Mirror, Irish Mirror, Express, Mail Online, The Sun, Scottish Sun and Coventry Telegraph, with the BBC later following it up with their own news feature.

The Mirror published the story at a later time on 28.02.23 and was featured on their homepage. Here it received 29 comments, including tributes to Katy.