Heartbreak over death of Ballarat East mother-of-three Kellie Rowe

And she wanted to make sure her kids did not miss out on anything.

But Kellie's three little boys Taylar, 8, Azayah, 6, and Ezra, 4, will now grow up without their mum after a burst stomach ulcer unleashed an infection that overwhelmed her organs.

After about six weeks in hospital, Kellie, 35, lost her fight for life early Saturday morning after her condition deteriorated rapidly on Friday.

Sister Rachelle Rowe said the entire family was devastated after Kellie's shock death and would throw their arms around Kellie's partner Wayne and their young sons to give them the love and support they will need - just as Kellie would have to anyone else.

"If Kellie could help anyone, she would," Rachelle said.

"One time last year there was a girl who wasn't doing very well mentally in town and Kellie was there and supported her. Kellie saved her life.

"She would also collect food from various supermarkets and had a stand at home with meals so if you needed food you could go and collect it."

Kellie did all of that while supporting the three boys, who have ADHD, autism, sensory issues and learning difficulties, and partner Wayne who had only recently returned to work after suffering a serious workplace injury two years ago.

"She did extra home-learning and had special equipment for the boys to meet their sensory needs, and continuous pediatrician appointment and things like that," Rachelle said.

She was planning to return to the workforce next year when youngest son Ezra started school.

The boys were able to visit their mum one last time on Friday.

"They gave her a cuddle and told her that they love her," Rachelle said.

"She was very hard-working and she knew what she wanted in life - to build herself a good family."

While Kellie was in hospital, Wayne was again unable to work putting extreme financial pressure on the family.

"We didn't expect any of this," Rachelle said. "We were all kind of living week to week anyway and we were told she was getting better, then all of a sudden she's not. Because Wayne hasn't been working the car repayments are behind, rent and medical bills ... and now funeral expenses ... everything is piling up."

A GoFundMe campaign, set up while Kellie was in hospital, has so far raised more than $5500 to help the family.

Until about six weeks ago, Kellie was perfectly healthy but stomach pains forced her into the emergency department.

She had a really bad stomach pain and she couldn't keep anything down and just felt like she constantly had a gastro bug so she went to Ballarat Base Hospital ... and got sent down to hospital in Geelong," Rachelle said.

Doctors at Geelong diagnosed a stomach ulcer and discharged her, but several days later the pain and symptoms remained so Kellie returned to the Ballarat ED.

"They found the stomach ulcer had split and pretty much all her organs went into shock and started shutting down," Rachelle said.

The resulting infection caused her liver, kidneys and heart to shut down and her brain to swell.

"They put her in a coma, and put her on dialysis to try and get her blood clean (of the infection) but that wasn't working. Then she got a liver infection which went to the kidneys but ... we were told she was getting better."

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Doctors tried many different medications but the infection eventually overwhelmed her body.

"She was doing well and then all of a sudden we got a call on Friday saying you need to come in, she's gone downhill, and then we stayed with her and she passed away on Saturday morning."

As she deteriorated doctors wanted to transfer her to a Melbourne hospital but her condition was too unstable.

Rachelle said Kellie had always been cautious about her health and her family.

"Kellie was really cautious during COVID. She didn't go out and if she did she would go out by herself or just Wayne would go out. She followed every single rule of COVID to ensure she and the kids didn't get sick."

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