Doctors told a beloved dad's family he'd be 'home in an hour' before he died suddenly from an undiagnosed condition.
Jason De Costa had been suffering with a bad cough for over two years.
He had been diagnosed with a postnasal drip, where mucus from the back of the nasal cavity into the throat causes a persistent cough but otherwise he lived his life as normal.
But it later emerged he had been living with a heart condition.
Jason, who lived in Singleton with his wife, suffered a heart attack at home.
He was rushed to hospital and doctors told his family he'd be "home in an hour" - but he never made it back and sadly Jason died at the age of 50.
On the day of his death in May 2020, the father-of-four had planned to go on a bike ride.
His daughter, Madeline De Costa told LancsLive : "It just happened overnight, he was fine and had planned on going for a bike ride and then I got a phone call from his wife at 5am to tell me an ambulance had to be called because my dad had a heart attack.
"I drove to his house with my friend and we called the hospital. They said he was in surgery to get a stent in his heart and we had to wait for him to get out so he could give his consent to share the information. They said he'd be out in an hour, so I dropped my friend off at her home and drove to my mum's.
"It was when I was there that my mum got the call from the hospital to say that he unfortunately didn't make it."
After receiving the devastating and unexpected news, it later transpired that Jason was not living with a postnasal drip, but had instead been living with heart disease for several years.
The timing of Jason's death coincided with the coronavirus pandemic and the number of restrictions placed on public places such as hospitals.
Madeline, 22, added: "It was hard not being able to say goodbye, but it was good that I saw him the week before.
"The hospital did ask if we wanted to see him but I think that's because he worked for the NHS. It was a shock - he was an active man, he didn't go to the gym all the time or anything but he enjoyed bike riding and camping and there was nothing wrong really."
Jason lived in Manchester until Madeline turned 12 years old, when he moved to Lancashire and the pair grew closer.
Now, Madeline will be completing a skydive in her dad's memory and to raise money for the British Heart Foundation, something she felt she couldn't do before. "I've got PTSD from it all, it was so sudden and it was hard to process.
"Now two years on, I feel like I'm finally able to talk and remember my dad so I want to do something to raise money and help others in some way."
You can donate to Madeline's GoFundMe page for her skydive to raise money for the charity.
