The family of a young mum-of-three who died in hospital due to a series of failings by doctors have said they will remember her as “a crusader with a good heart”.

Sian Hollands died of a pulmonary embolism at Darent Valley Hospital on Sunday, November 15, 2015, with doctors missing numerous opportunities to correctly diagnose the blood clot after putting her symptoms down to withdrawal.

The 25-year-old was a former drug addict but had been on a methadone programme to keep her off heroin and had begun to turn her life around, moving into a flat in Priory Hill in Dartford just six weeks before she died.

Speaking days before North West Kent coroner Roger Hatch delivered his damning verdict that Miss Hollands probably would not have died but for the doctors’ failings, mum Nicola Smith paid tribute to her daughter.

“Of course she had lots of her own problems but she thought she was a crusader who could help other people and she’d forget the problems she had to go on a mission to help someone else,” she said.

“The number of people that came forward after she died, that she’d met through different walks of life, they all said the same thing, which is that she had a good heart.

“She had distanced herself from the rubbish and was getting on with her life. She liked it in Dartford and had a nice place.

“The main thing was that she was in such good spirits and was in a good place.”

Miss Hollands was keen to pursue a career in hairdressing and had applied for a place on a course at Bexley College, with news that she had been successful only reaching the family after her death.

Previously she had held jobs at an Iceland supermarket and a cafe in Woolwich. She had lived in Charlton before coming to Dartford to help her move on from her drug problems.

Speaking from the family home in Mangold Way, Erith, her grandmother Christine Smith said: “We had a really nice family evening the week before she died.

“On the Sunday she took us out for lunch and paid for it all.

“When things were going badly for Sian she would be asking for money, so we knew she was all right.”

Her death affected not just her family and friends, but also other people who crossed her path, with many turning out to remember her at her funeral at Eltham Crematorium.

Ewan McGregor’s rendition of Elton John’s Your Song from Moulin Rouge was played at the service on Miss Hollands’ request, because she had fallen in love with it as a child.

Mrs Smith said: “She told me even when she was young, ‘mum, when I die I want this played at my funeral’, and so I remembered that.

“She loved music and was always a right little performer. She loved an audience.”

Her children would often join her in dancing around the living room and even in a lift.

They’ve tried to rope their nan into dancing in their mum’s absence. Eden, 11, Marne, seven, and Roman, four, have all struggled without their mum.

Miss Hollands’ sister Ebony said: “People say things heal with time but they don’t, especially with everything we’ve been through since then.

“I look at mum and the kids and they just look empty most days.”

Mrs Smith said: “The worst one emotionally is Marne. She just can’t cope that Sian’s not coming back.

“They find it hard when they hear other children talking about their mums at school.

“Roman was diagnosed with autism about three weeks ago and I was so upset because I know Sian would’ve been devastated.

“When Sian died I remember Roman asking if she had got a bus to heaven. But the main question from them has been ‘why’.”

With the long-awaited inquest reaching its conclusion, the family finally have an answer. It may not make their loss any easier to accept, but they will always have memories to cherish.