‘Backpacking Bridget Jones’ reveals her father died of a heart attack

A travel blogger who found worldwide fame as the ‘Backpacking Bridget Jones’ after being jilted at the altar has revealed how her father died of a heart attack while taking her baby daughter for a walk.

Katy Colins has written a blog describing how Colin Gough suddenly collapsed during the stroll through a park close to his Merseyside home, knocking the pram containing his six-month-old granddaughter Everleigh to the floor. 

The baby was found still inside the pram following a frantic three-hour search for the pair, but Colin, 62, sadly died as he was transported to hospital. 

Katy, 34, wrote: ‘I thought being jilted at the altar was bad but it didn’t come close to this heartbreak.

Katy Colins has written a blog describing how Colin Gough (left) suddenly collapsed during the stroll through a park close to his Merseyside home, knocking the pram containing his six-month-old granddaughter Everleigh (right) to the floor

The travel blogger (pictured in South East Asia) who found worldwide fame as the ‘Backpacking Bridget Jones’ after being jilted at the altar

The baby was found still inside the pram following a frantic three-hour search for the pair, but Colin (pictured with his daughter) sadly died as he was transported to hospital

‘He’d had a massive heart attack just yards from his front door. Despite kind strangers rushing to his aid and picking my baby up off the floor where she’d fallen out of the pram, a defibrillator from the nearby sports centre being used and an ambulance – and air ambulance – appearing in minutes, no-one could save him.

‘He was gone. I heard this animalistic, painful cry and realised it was me; sobbing on the hall floor, desperate for this to be a sick joke. 

‘I’d only seen him five hours earlier, laughing at the baby burping, showering her with kisses and hugging me in his kitchen.

‘How would I never see him, or hold him, or smell his smell again?’

Katy has now released a book, called How to Say Goodbye, which was motivated by the grief she felt following her father’s death.

The blogger first shot to prominence in 2013 when she quit her PR job, sold her house and her car and booked a one-way ticket to south-east Asia after her £20,000 wedding was called off. 

Katy’s story was told around the world after journalist John Siddle interviewed her in 2016 – the pair would eventually get married and have a daughter

The blogger first shot to prominence in 2013 when she quit her PR job, sold her house and her car and booked a one-way ticket to south-east Asia after her £20,000 wedding was called off 

Journalist John and Katy studied together at university but hadn’t spoken for 10 years until he broke her story in January 2016 

She was left confused and disillusioned with life after being jilted by her long-term boyfriend and sold ‘anything that wouldn’t fit into a large backpack’ before jetting off to Thailand on her own.

She kept a travel blog mainly to keep family and friends updated during her trip, which grew and grew in popularity. 

Her story was told around the world after journalist John Siddle interviewed her in 2016.

She eventually fell for the writer, an old university classmate she hadn’t spoken to for 10 years, and the couple ended up having a daughter called Everleigh.

• How To Say Goodbye by Katy Colins is available in paperback, e-book and audiobook from Amazon. 

Katy’s ept a travel blog mainly to keep family and friends updated during her trip, which grew and grew in popularity 

Katy’s journey inspired her to write the first novel in The Lonely Hearts Travel Club series, Destination Thailand, which was described as ‘Bridget Jones goes backpacking’

Katy has now written her first novel, How To Say Goodbye, which was motivated by the grief she felt following her father’s death