Our only
daughter Amy Jayne Russell was born 7th January 1984. Throughout
her life she was fit and healthy with no unusual illnesses nor signs
of one.
When she
was 20 years old she trained with a tour operator to be a 'kiddie
rep' for them because she loved children. She left Manchester on
12th March 2004 - and never came back to us!
Playing
water polo in the hotel swimming pool with the residents and staff
on 15th October 2004, Amy collapsed and could not be revived. She
died at the poolside. The post mortem in Spain could find 'no cause
of death'.
In order
to release her to the UK the death certificate stated that she died
from a 'coronary embolism'. A further post mortem in the UK could
find no clear cause of death either but because she was in water, it
was presumed that she had drowned, even though no water was found in
her lungs.
She was
found to have diatoms in her blood hence the decision to make
drowning a secondary cause of death. We will never know the true
cause of death - a cross we will have to bear forever.
I often
remember Amy saying she couldn't catch her breath sometimes, but we
never thought anything about it because it never seemed to affect
her too much. I think that maybe, just maybe, if we had had her
screened, something would have shown up somewhere?
She was
a warm hearted, fun loving girl who dearly loved her family and
friends. Her young life was an outstanding achievement of love and
affection for everyone in her life, binding us all together in her
memory. For all those whose lives are lost in question - eternal
rest.
