Thousands raised for family ‘shocked’ at sudden death of father-of-three and avid hiker who ‘loved his kids’

A woman has paid tribute to her brother, an avid hiker and father-of-three who “loved his kids” but died suddenly at the age of 40 after going missing following a three-day hike.

Theresa Johnston, 42, told PA Real Life her brother, Russ Johnston, based in Leicester, had set out on Friday January 24 earlier this year to wild camp, but did not return on the Monday.

Russ, a tattoo artist, suffered a pulmonary embolism – a sudden blockage in the pulmonary arteries – at a petrol station in Ambleside on Monday January 27, causing him to collapse.

Despite strangers performing CPR on him, he died at the scene. Now, the family have raised more than £3,000 via GoFundMe for the three children Russ leaves behind – Curtis, 21, Grace, 13, and Amelia, nine.

“Being as young as he was, he hadn’t thought about life insurance – it’s so they can get something for themselves in memory of their dad,” Theresa said, adding that the children were getting jewellery with Russ’s fingerprints on them.

Theresa explained to PA Real Life: “He was on his way back to Leicestershire and he got to Ambleside and stopped for fuel and he’d refilled and went in and paid and when he was stepping into his van, he fell back and just collapsed.

“It was 5.30pm, people were coming back from work, on the commute, and people out at the petrol station were trying CPR to revive him and they called emergency services, but they just couldn’t get him back.

“We’d like to thank the people who tried so hard to save him and it feels better to know he wasn’t alone when he passed,” Theresa added.

Russ had set out from Leicestershire on the Friday and hiked to Windermere in Cumbria without reporting any issues.

Theresa said: “He dropped his girls at their mum’s on the Friday and he was due to come back on the Monday morning, and that’s when we found out there was a problem, because he had booked contractors to do some plastering in his shop on Monday and he didn’t turn up.

“Because they knew where he planned to be, my cousin and his business partner went up to look for him, and when they couldn’t find him, they reported him missing.”

Theresa said the family found out in “under 10 minutes” that Russ had died, as his ex-partner rang them to explain the shocking news, and the family later discovered exactly what had happened from the police.

“My mum found out first. She phoned and then I went over to her. She rang my partner because my phone was on silent and she was just sobbing, and saying: ‘He’s gone’,” Theresa said.

“She’s gone into autopilot and she’s been trying to arrange his funeral. It’s been quite difficult because there were just the three of us after my dad passed, and now Russ is gone as well.

“I think as a parent, you never expect to have to do that for your own children.

“She was just shocked, because he was so young and he was overweight but he was active and there was just no way. We didn’t suspect anything like that was going to happen.

“He’d been doing 10,000 steps a day and he’d been sending pictures to my mum about how many steps he’d done and how many flights he’d done up, he was trying to make sure he was being active.

“None of us saw it coming.”

Describing Russ’s personality, Theresa said he was “a character”.

“He had a wild sense of humour. He was always trying to push a little bit extra and doing things for the thrill, he enjoyed the Peaks, he enjoyed camping, he enjoyed pushing himself,” she said.

“When my mum went up to identify him, he had tattoos on the tops of his feet that were a bit risque and the person who prepared his body said: ‘I couldn’t help but laugh because you just saw his personality come through.’”

Russ owned a tattoo business in Leicester, By Design, with a business partner, and he had previously set up businesses in London, Essex and Kent, which he would eventually hand over to apprentices.

“People would always comment on his tattoos, because he was heavily tattooed, being a tattoo artist, but his business partner said all of his tattoos had been completed by his apprentices over the years.

“He’d never had one done professionally. He just used to let his apprentices practice on him,” said Theresa.

She said that hiking and wild camping were among Russ’s passions, ones he has enjoyed from “very young”.

“He spent so much time with so many people that this was his little escape. He’d go out into nature and wild camp, but he would always tell people where he was going and when he was due to come back,” she said.

Theresa said the last few weeks have been a “whirlwind” as Russ was loved by so many people who have wanted to express their shock and sadness at his passing.

“People that we didn’t know of were saying how shocked and sad they are and telling stories about him, that whenever they had a problem, he would just drop everything and be there,” Theresa said.

To view the fundraiser, visit gofundme.com/f/raising-money-for-russ-children-in-his-memory.