Mum's warning after tragic daughter collapsed at…

Mum's warning after tragic daughter collapsed at Creamfields Festival

The mum of a 25-year-old woman who died after falling ill at Creamfields has issued a stark warning to others about taking drugs.

Lucy George died of multiple organ failure at Warrington Hospital on August 30, four days after collapsing at the festival. Her heartbroken mum, Helen George says her 'family are absolutely devastated' that she's no longer here.

"25 is no age to lose her life," she added in an interview with the Liverpool Echo. Toxicology reports found a mixture of drugs in Lucy's system, including fatal levels of MDMA (ecstasy).

It's prompted Helen to warn others thinking of taking the substances to think twice. She said: "If she has taken what she has taken, it was done in the moment. Lucy was not a drug addict. She was a beautiful girl, she was fun-loving, very hard working, and she had her whole life ahead of her.

"From this, these youngsters need to realise that drugs are serious. It's not something that you should just take. Lucy has paid the ultimate price by losing her life."

Lucy, who lived in Neath in South Wales, was just three weeks away from starting her "dream job" as a flight attendant with Virgin Atlantic when she began acting strangely at the Cheshire festival around 8.20pm on Friday, April 26.

An inquest held in Warrington on Wednesday heard how her friends tried desperately for around a hour to get help for the 25-year-old as she fell unconscious - but medics were "too busy" to assist them.

Her cousin Kasey Counsell, who travelled to Creamfields with Lucy on the Thursday, said Lucy was "really disorientated, really confused" and realised from her behaviour that "something was wrong."

Lucy was carried halfway to the medical tent, which was located about 10 minutes away up a steep hill, by her friends, two Creamfields security guards and another man.

The on-site hospital's ambulance control team were finally alerted to Lucy's condition at around 9.35pm. Paramedics attended, and she was stretchered into the medical tent at 9.45pm.

Lucy was struggling to breathe, and went into cardiac arrest as doctors prepared a ventilation tube. She was resuscitated, and taken by ambulance to Warrington Hospital's ICU.

Helen said: "Initially the hospital was positive and keeping our spirits up, but as the day went on it wasn't good news, and by the Monday there was nothing more they could do."

Lucy died at around 3am on Tuesday, August 30, surrounded by her family.

Her inquest was told she was not a drug addict, but had occasionally taken drugs, including at last year's Creamfields Festival, and had talked about buying them ahead of the event.

After arriving on Thursday, she took half an MDMA pill and spent the night drinking vodka and "doing balloons" (inhaling nitrous oxide) with her friends. She also bought some 2C-B pills.

Her friend Daniel Humphries told the inquest: "When we were at Creamfields, people were selling drugs around the tents. They were easy to get hold of."

Giving a conclusion of death by misadventure, coroner Jacqueline Devonish said: "(Lucy) wasn't a drug addict. She only took drugs because she happened to be at the festival and that's what young people do when they go to festivals.

"In this case Lucy had taken drugs, she did that to herself, no one forced her to do it. It wasn't with the intention of harming herself. She didn't expect this outcome.

"She was 25, she was no age, and it's really sad to think that someone as bright and bubbly and lively and energetic and hard-working as Lucy has lost her life."

She added that, even if Lucy had received medical attention sooner, it was unlikely that her life could have been saved due to the high levels of MDMA in her system.

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