A young mum was found unconscious and not breathing by her fiancé after she suffered a sudden and unexpected asthma attack. Amy Greenwood, 22, died in hospital days after she was found not breathing by partner Keagan Boylan.
Amy had suffered from asthma all her life, her devastated brother James Greenwood said, but it had got worse as she got older. Although she took medication, she collapsed suddenly on October 19 after a severe asthma attack.
The mum-of-two, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, had been "fine" during the day, James said, with a "bit of a tight chest" but the pair had FaceTimed in the evening and she said she was feeling better. That night, Keagan heard a thud and rushed upstairs to find Amy unconscious and not breathing.
Keagan started CPR, called paramedics and family members and Amy was rushed to Wigan Hospital, the Liverpool Echo reports. Although she regained a heartbeat, she was placed on life support and scans showed there was tragically no brain activity and her family were told to say their goodbyes.
Amy left behind her two children - Bailey, four, and Orla, just eight months old. Her loving family are now desperate to raise awareness of the severity of asthma to try and prevent anyone else going through what they have.
James said: "She was on special medication that few people in the UK were on and she was on steroids for a while. She was recently told she could stop taking the steroids but on Wednesday evening she collapsed. It was so unexpected.
"In the day she was fine, said she had a bit of a tight chest but that night she Facetimed me and said she was feeling much better and that she was going to have a shower and go to bed. But that was it."
Next thing James knew, Amy had been rushed to hospital. He said: "Within an hour of her being rushed to hospital, my dad called and said we all needed to come up. We were told they had got her breathing again but because she had a lack of oxygen, something had happened to her brain. We were told she wouldn't be the person we knew if she came out of it.
"Scans showed no brain activity and on Friday a decision was made to turn off her life support and we all said our goodbyes. It was completely out of the blue, she'd been fine that day."
The mum-of-two had regularly taken medication for her asthma, which her brother said was "severe". In the hopes of raising awareness of the condition, he said: "Always take your inhalers. Amy always did but hers was so severe. Me and my other sister Zoe and Amy's kids have asthma, make sure you take your brown inhaler every morning and night and if you feel even a slight wheeze, don't just think nothing of it.
"Before an asthma attack, Amy always said she'd get an itchy chin, which sounds strange but others have said the same. But if you feel your chest tighten that's the main sign."
Amy was described as a family person as she loved "being together with everyone", being particularly close to her siblings. James said: "We've all grown up together, really close. There's only two years between me and Amy and we facetimed every single day.
"We've always go out for meals at lunchtimes and little trips to M&S. She was a family person. Even though she moved out four years ago, she was always around our house.
"She kept in contact with all of her friends from primary and high school and was a loving person. She was gentle with her two kids and despite having them young, she was so mature.
James added his mum ran the London marathon for Asthma + Lung UK at the beginning of October to help raise awareness.
A fundraising page has been set up to help the family, which can be found here. It reads: "Amy has been taken away from her family, friends and beautiful babies (Bailey, 4 years and Orla, 8 months) far too soon at the young age of just 22.
"Amy tragically passed away in Wigan Hospital in the Intensive Care Unit surrounded by her loving family on Friday 21st October at 4.04pm. Amy suffered with a severe asthma attack on Wednesday evening which lead to her needing to be resuscitated and ventilated.
"Amy has dealt with severe asthma her entire life and we would like to raise awareness to others around the severity of the condition. We’re raising these funds to help the family with ANYTHING they need at this awful, awful time.
"This world is such a cruel place and no words can justify the heartbreak being experienced by all of Amy’s family and friends right now. ‘Keep going that person in heaven don’t want you to quit’."
Asthma
According to the NHS, asthma is a common lung condition that causes occasional breathing difficulties, affecting people of all ages. Common symptoms can include a whistling sound when breathing, breathlessness, a tight chest and coughing
Every 10 seconds someone has a potentially life-threatening asthma attack, the NHS reports. Signs that you may be having an asthma attack include:
- your symptoms are getting worse (cough, breathlessness, wheezing or tight chest)
- your reliever inhaler (usually blue) is not helping
- you're too breathless to speak, eat or sleep
- your breathing is getting faster and it feels like you cannot catch your breath
- your peak flow score is lower than normal
- children may also complain of a tummy or chest ache
More information can be found on the NHS website here or Asthma UK here.
