A “devastated” Birmingham family say they face an “impossible” future after their beloved mum died suddenly.
Sutton Coldfield construction manager and mum-of-five Ola Lindo was described by her eldest daughter Lei Scott as the “heart and soul” of their family.
Ola, 44, was diagnosed in March with Acute myeloid leukaemia but was “putting up a fight” with treatment and was due to come home.
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‘They tried to resuscitate her’
However an unexpected fracture left the hard working mum, who started her new construction manager role two weeks before her diagnosis, facing an extended period in hospital.
Ola’s family believe she died from underlying complications from her condition – but are awaiting confirmation on the cause of her death.
Ola’s children, the youngest of whom is eight, now face a future without their “biggest supporter and greatest teacher”, said daughter Lei.
Lei, 24, said: “She was diagnosed in the middle of March with Acute myeloid leukaemia, she was in hospital from March until she died on June 7.
“The chemotherapy was working she was due to come home she was putting up a fight, unfortunately she fractured her shoulder it stopped her doing physiotherapy in terms of learning how to walk again.
“She had to remain in hospital, in that time she was coughing up blood.”
Lei explained that Ola was still able to communicate with her family despite having the episodes where she would cough up blood.
A “devastated” Birmingham family say they face an “impossible” future after their mum died suddenly. Sutton Coldfield construction manager and mum-of-five Ola Lindo died on June 7 2025. Pictured: Ola and Lei -Credit:Lei Scott
“I got a call from the hospital my mum was vomiting piles of blood her heart stopped instantly.
“They tried to resuscitate her for 45 minutes.”
Lei explained that her mum was the sole caretaker of the younger four children.
Lei is now going through the process of becoming their guardian, despite having a one-year-old daughter herself.
24-year-old Lei is the oldest of Ola’s five children, with her four younger siblings aged just 16, 14, 11 and 8.
Lei has now set up a gofundme page, currently at £19,000, to put a future in place for her four siblings and cover the cost of her mum’s funeral.
‘As a child I had the world’
Recalling the day she lost her mum, Lei said: “She was due to come home I had packaged up her lunch and I didn’t even have time to bring it my sisters were planning to spend the day with her.
“She was an amazing mum she was a single mum, we were never unsure of anything, she would be tired and still make an effort to do things with us.”
Lei told of how Ola had single-handedly carried her family through a period of homelessness eight years ago, lost both her parents last year and held down a number of jobs.
She described how Ola would always make sure the children were in activities, from cadets and cheerleading to ballet and swimming.
A “devastated” Birmingham family say they face an “impossible” future after their mum died suddenly. Sutton Coldfield construction manager and mum-of-five Ola Lindo died on June 7 2025. Pictured: Ola on far right -Credit:Lei Scott
Lei said: “She was hard working, patient, kind, she never put herself first which I hated.
“As I am older I now realise she did struggle, even though she never revealed this, when I was 16 we became homeless, one time I caught her crying.
“My siblings knew nothing when we were going from hotel to hotel it was made fun for them my mum never made the children feel like it was the end, she was persevered through it, as a child I had the world.
“She lost both her parents in the space of four months last year and now we have lost her.”
Lei herself works part-time at a supermarket alongside a placement at her old primary school.
“I do have a village, I was so shocked at the amount of donations in a small amount of time.
“I’m also studying full time, doing my PGCE alongside working part-time at Tesco.
‘My brother has just done his last GCSE’
“The kids’ schools have been really helpful as well, the gofundme page is to help me set up a future for the other four.
“My brother has just done his last GCSE, he was adamant he wanted to sit it, it is ensuring that everything is in place for them.”
A “devastated” Birmingham family say they face an “impossible” future after their mum died suddenly. Sutton Coldfield construction manager and mum-of-five Ola Lindo died on June 7 2025. Pictured: Ola at Lei’s 21st -Credit:Lei Scott
Lei has moved back to the family home in order to do this and praised the “village” of support she has received as she looks to navigate her family through profound grief.
“From the fundraiser you can see how loved she was, was always went above and beyond for everyone she just got a construction manager job.”
“All of us are heartbroken, trying to come to terms with this unimaginable loss.
“Life without her feels impossible, but we are doing our best to stay strong for one another, just as she would have wanted.”
Lei’s fundraising page has raised £19,000 so far. You can find Ola’s fundraising page here, or by visiting www.gofundme.com/f/in-loving-memory-of-our-mom-ola