'Mummy I can't breathe': Haunting last words of 15 Year Old Girl Who Died After Having First asthma attack

An 'accomplished' schoolgirl died after having her first asthma attack when both her lungs collapsed, an inquest has heard. Holly Swainson’s haunting last words were, ‘Mummy I can’t breathe’, just seconds before her heart stopped beating.

Experts told the inquest that in all their years in medicine they had never encountered a situation where someone having a severe asthma attack had suffered both lungs collapsing.

Holly Swainson, 15, died after suffering from her first asthma attack when both of her lungs collapsed

Holly was diagnosed with asthma aged three, but had never had an attack before she died and used inhalers

Unlike most asthma attacks, which build up over time, Holly suffered a ‘dramatic and catastrophic’ episode that claimed her life in a matter of minutes.

Holly's mother, Debbie, desperately gave her 15-year-old daughter CPR while her father called 999.

She was rushed to hospital where medics fought ‘strenuously’ for two hours to save her before they were forced to give up the battle.

Derbyshire Coroner Dr Robert Hunter told her parents no-one ‘could ever understand what it feels like to have lost a child so quickly and unexpectedly’.

The hearing in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, heard how Holly had developed asthma as a three year-old, but had never had an attack and used an inhaler.


The youngster did voluntary work and said she wanted a career helping to support people with learning difficulties using music.

She was a keen musician who played the flute and enjoyed sports.

‘Holly never had a severe asthma attack prior to this,’ her father Andrew told the inquest. ‘She controlled it with her inhalers.’

The father-of-two said his daughter was in good health and there was nothing out of the ordinary in the days leading up to the fatal attack on June 21 last year.

Holly, described by her family as a ‘shining light’, had woken early to study for a French exam that day and after coming home from school she went for a sleep, he said.



Holly was rushed to Stepping Hill Hospital where medics found a pulse several times, but were forced to give up after two hours when attempts to revive looked 'futile'

The family ate their evening meal then she took their dog for a walk just before 8pm.

But when she returned home around 20 minutes later she told her parents she felt unwell.

‘She was sat on our bed and was talking to her mother,’ he said. ‘I came out of the bathroom and said we had better call the ambulance. I could see she was struggling to breathe.

‘Holly was speaking, but was getting distressed, while I was on the telephone I heard her say “I’m going to faint”, the next thing I knew she was lying on the floor on her back.

‘She deteriorated very, very quickly, her mother was giving her CPR while we waited for the paramedics.’

Clutching a pink scarf that belonged to Holly, Mrs Swainson fought back tears as she told the hearing: ‘Her last words were “Mummy, I can’t breathe”.’

When paramedic Glynn Hardy arrived at the family’s home in Hayfield, Derbyshire, he found the girl unconscious on the floor.

Her lips were blue and her airways were blocked with half-digested food, he said.

The teenager had no pulse and he asked the two paramedics already on the scene if the youngster was in cardiac arrest. They said she was ‘flat-lining’.

Dr Freya Levy, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Stepping Hill Hospital, said a team were waiting to receive Holly when she arrived at the A&E department in Stockport just after 8.30pm

Almost an hour after her arrival doctors got a pulse after they found she had suffered a pneumothorax – the medical term for a collapsed lung – and inserted a chest drain into her left lung. Just over 10 minutes later the pulse was lost.

An X-ray then revealed her right lung had also collapsed and a second drain was inserted. Over the next hours medics found a pulse on at least three separate occasions.


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'Accomplished Holly' was a keen musician and sports player, and aspired to make a 'big difference' with a career helping disabled people using music




But Dr Levy said just before 10.30pm the team agreed that further attempts at resuscitation ‘looked futile’ and they decided to stop.


Asked by Holly’s parents what condition their daughter would have been in had she survived Dr Levy said she would have been ‘fairly seriously brain damaged’.


Dr Levy said: ‘I can’t say which came first, the asthma attack or the pneumothorax , but it was a further insult to her body that made it more difficult for the patient to survive.’


Giving his conclusion Dr Hunter said: ‘Given all the evidence I have heard the only conclusion I can come to is that Holly died of natural causes.’


Addressing the teenager’s parents the coroner went on to describe Holly as ‘an accomplished young girl’.


‘I don’t think any of us can begin to imagine what it feels like to have lost a child so quickly and unexpectedly,’ he said.


‘But from what I’ve heard and read Holly shines out. She was active and much loved by family and friends


‘I know there will be many dark days ahead and it sounds trite, but your daughter was a special person.


‘Young people get a very bad press but she was an example of someone who was dynamic and motivated. Her death is a tragic loss, so sudden and unexpected.’


A fundraising project named Holly’s Footprint has been set up in her memory to raise money for local causes.







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