Mum stunned after being sent text message off 'dead' son days before his funeral

A mum who was mourning the loss of her son received a text from him the day before his funeral.

Heather Insley, the mum of Sean Cox, mourned his death for three days, after spending time at Ottawa's Montfort Hospital by his bedside whilst he passed away.

Heather and her family had planned his funeral arrangements and honoured his wishes of organ donation - all for them to receive a text message from him on the day he was cremated.

The message was asking for money, which her husband Bill reassured her would just be a sick scammer impersonating their dead son.

The next day, she received another message.

She dialled the number it came from, and suddenly a voice that sounded just like Sean’s appeared on through the phone.

CBC/Heather Insley

Talking to CBC, Heather said: “We were freaked.”

In the days following the phone call encounter, Ottawa police were able to track down Sean’s exact location.

She said: “Oh my God, your funeral's tomorrow.

"I thought, I'm so happy he's alive, but I just went through all that mourning.”

The bizarre case of the 43-year-old turned his world upside down.

He said he had no idea about the hospital situation, but after hearing what his parents had gone through, he felt he had a ‘second chance’ at life.

But how did such a mix-up happen?

CBC/Heather Insley

Martin Sauvé, Montfort's director of communications, told CBC: “We offer our most sincere condolences to the loved ones of the deceased patient, and offer our apologies to both families involved for the distress caused by this situation.”

According to Heather, a nurse thought she recognised the man in the bed as her son from an earlier hospital stay, following an overdose two months previous.

Heather said neither she nor the five other family members who visited the hospital room ever questioned whether the man in the bed was Sean.

She recalled: “He had the same haircut, same thick hair, like my boy did - his long eyelashes.”

The experience was traumatic for the family, and she added: “We cried.

“We cried so much.

“It was just, it was devastating.

“We planned the funeral.

“I never knew what it would feel like to lose a child, and it was awful.”

Heather said she hasn't heard from the other man's family and still doesn't know who he was.

A mix-up that you'd hope would never happen again.