The devastated family of a young mum who has passed away aged 22 from an "unexpected" asthma attack are pushing for other people to pick up on the signs. Amy Greenwood, from Skelmersdale, was discovered not breathing by her fiancé, Keagan Boyle, on Wednesday evening, after an abrupt asthma attack, Manchester Evening News reports.
He immediately performed CPR on Amy's unconscious body before she was rushed to Wigan Infirmary hospital, where the tough decision was made the following day to switch off her life support after her brain showed no activity. Her heartbroken family have described the young mum of two as a ''loving'' and ''family'' person who was ''gentle'' and ''so mature''.
They revealed that she had been 'in and out of hospital' with asthma her entire life which had became more severe as she got older and are now warning other people of the seriousness of the condition.
Amy's brother James said his sister, mum to Bailey, 4 and Orla, eight months, collapsed ''suddenly''. He told the ECHO: "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."
The night she collapsed, Amy's fiancé, Keagan, heard a thud and went upstairs to discover Amy unconscious and not breathing. He immediately performed CPR and family and paramedics were called out before Amy was rushed to Wigan hospital.
Amy regained a pulse but despite medic's best efforts, she was put onto life support. James 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 took daily medication to treat her asthma which her brother described as ''severe''. With hopes of raising some awareness surrounding 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."
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. 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."
A fundraising page has been set up to help the family, which can be found here.
Common asthma 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.
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