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My husband Jed, daughter Sian and
I decided we wanted to go snorkelling in a lovely bay about 10 minutes walk away
but Adam decided he would prefer to stay behind. Just before we’d left, I
and another friend had been discussing teenage boys and how they can be with
their mums – I said that Adam was always up for a kiss and hug – I’d given him a
big kiss on the cheek and said “I love you” – he replied with his usual
embarrassed “get off me!” but was smiling all the same! That was the last thing
I said to him.
 About
10 minutes after we’d got to the bay for snorkelling one of our friends ran down
saying there was a problem.
Somehow, I knew that something awful had happened.
Jed and Sian ran on ahead but my
legs just wouldn’t work properly and our friend Dave ended up dragging me all
the way back to the hotel – he just told me that they had pulled Adam out of the
water and he was unconscious.
I got to the hotel and saw my
friend Angela crying – I knew then that it must be bad. I could hear an
ambulance siren in the background and was told that Adam had been taken to
hospital.
We were told that Adam and 3 of
the boys who were with us on holiday had decided to have a game of volleyball in
the pool.
Adam had got out after a while
saying he felt unwell and had gone to sit at the side of the pool. He then just
collapsed into the water.
At the hospital, Jed was waiting
in the corridor and told me that Adam had been taken to theatre. One of the
holidaymakers that had tried to help Adam was, apparently, a paramedic and had
given CPR to Adam by the side of the pool – she was at the hospital and came
over to talk to me and said that she couldn’t get his heart started – I just
couldn’t understand why she was telling me that his heart had stopped!
Eventually we were called into a
side room to be told that Adam was dead on arrival. We were told that Adam
would have to have a post-mortem in Cyprus and that it may take 10 days so we
were then faced with the agonising decision of whether to stay there in a
holiday resort surrounded by people having fun on their holidays or go home and
leave Adam in Cyprus. I knew that I couldn’t stay there but walking up the
steps on to the plane knowing that I was leaving Adam behind was just
heart-breaking.
The 3 weeks up to his funeral
were all a bit of a blur – thankfully, our friends were able to organise
everything for us in Cyprus. I’m still not sure to this day how they were able
to organise everything with the insurance company and authorities so well.
A second post-mortem had to be
carried out once Adam had been returned to the UK which concluded that Adam had
died from a cardiac arrest.
Eventually, at the inquest, cause
of death was “Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS)”. I just couldn’t believe
that a fit, healthy 17 year old boy could die so suddenly from a cardiac
arrest. I remembered that Adam had told me he had fainted at home about 4
months before he died and I began to wonder whether this was significant.
We were put in touch with CRY and
sadly, realised that this was not so rare – at the time, CRY’s estimate was that
8 young people die every week in similar circumstances. This has now been
revised to 12 – 12 people who die suddenly with usually no warning or symptoms.
Our journey is 6 years down the
line now and I still get days when I am overwhelmed by the realisation of what
has happened, but we are committed to working with CRY to raise awareness and
help with their screening programmes. Through the screening that we have had,
I’ve discovered I have Brugada syndrome as does my daughter Sian and other
relatives in my family. This is the most likely cause of Adam’s death.
I have trained as a
bereavement supporter with CRY so that,
hopefully, I can provide some support to people who have lost loved ones in the
same way; and I am a CRY County Representative for Kent. We have also set up a
memorial fund for Adam within CRY for which we have regular fundraising events
to raise money for screening events in our local community.
Life is liveable
but shadowed by sadness - we carry on as best we can but my biggest sadness is
the loss that Adam has had – the loss of his future.
If you would like to contact one of our
Representatives or a Bereavement Supporter please call the CRY office at 01737 363222 or e-mail cry@c-r-y.org.uk
and we will put you in touch with someone who may be able to help
you.
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