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.
Avril Russell
