Torment for family of man in a coma as he dies alone

A MAN who was in a coma for three years while his family fought for his life support machines to be switched off has suddenly died while they were not there.

Kavan Maddocks, 23, stopped breathing unexpectedly on Saturday, having been kept alive by artificial feeding and breathing tubes since plunging four storeys from a car park in November 2016. His fall left him severely brain damaged.

His father Frank Maddocks had been battling for his son, pictured, to be allowed to die because he said he was stuck in a ‘cabbage-like’ state, the Mail reported last week. But on Saturday Mr Maddocks received a phone call from the Stocksbridge brain injury clinic, near Sheffield, to say Kavan had died suddenly after a chest infection he had had all week.

The 47- year- old said: ‘ They never told us he had a chest infection. Maybe if they had, we could have been there for him when he passed.’ He added: ‘I am torn, because in some ways, I am over the moon. I’m absolutely chuffed for him that he’s finally found a way out of this lifeless hell he has been in.

‘But I will always be disappointed that I had to push for three years. We had hoped the doctors would see the sense and let him go – with us all there at his bedside. But it did not turn out like that.’

Because Kavan’s death was unexpected, the police were called and a coroner’s inquest will be held. Mr Maddocks, of Ossett, West Yorkshire, went to the clinic on Sunday to see his son’s body, having received the call at 10.30pm the day before – just after a family barbecue with Kavan’s 18-year-old brother. Kavan had died peacfully with no sign of struggle, he said.

Recalling his visit, Mr Maddocks said: ‘I put my arms around Kavan and gave him a big kiss and a hug, and I told him he was in a better place now. I whispered to him: “I’m pleased for you mate”.’

Kavan, a trainee accountant from Macclesfield, Cheshire, was 20 when he fell from the multi-storey car park. He had been drinking after attending a Macclesfield Town football match. Kavan’s mother Janthea died in 2017 aged 46. A clinic spokesman said it would ‘liaise closely with relatives’ to make their lives easier.