A "PERFECT" wife and mother has died three days after being struck down by a mystery virus.

Lisa Sherburne, 33, died just days after returning from a walking holiday with her young family.

Her husband of nine years, Warren, said he and their two young children, Rebecca, five, and Connor, four, are struggling to come to terms with their loss.

Speaking at their home in Tunstall Drive, Altham, Mr Sherburne said: "There is now a huge gap in our lives, we all loved Lisa so much."

He said that doctors have so far been unable to determine exactly what killed his wife but have told him that it was a viral infection which got into her heart.

Mrs Sherburne, who worked as a health and safety officer for the Inland Revenue in Accrington, first complained of feeling unwell on Sunday, September 10. The family had just returned from a caravan break in North Wales.

The following day she went to see her doctor and was told she may have a problem with her appendix. After continuing to feel unwell she went to Royal Blackburn Hospital and her condition deteriorated. She died a week ago yesterday.

Mr Sherburne said: "We had a brilliant weekend together, we walked for miles and miles every day. Lisa was a healthy woman and this has come as a massive shock to us all.

"We just don't understand how this can have happened.

"The doctors have told us that they think she had a virus which has attacked her heart but they do not know what virus it was or where it has come from."

He said that he and his children have now been checked by doctors to see if they could possibly be affected by a similar virus.

Mrs Sherburne was part of a close-knit family and lived just two doors away from her sister Laura and her family.

She had worked for the Inland Revenue for the past 14 years and attended Mount Carmel School in Accrington as a youngster.

Her funeral takes place at St Anne's RC Church on Friday at 12.30pm.

The family have asked that mourners wear bright clothes to the funeral to match Mrs Sherburne's "bubbly personality".