Family watch in horror as teen passes away by side of the road
BY COLETTE CRAMPSEY reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk A MOTHER has spoken of her grief after her 16-year-old daughter died on the way to a family holiday.
Laura Walton suffered an epileptic seizure and died by the roadside while her horrified relatives looked on.
Her mum Eve Ashton, 42, who was Laura’s full-time carer, said the tragedy “doesn’t seem real”.
She added: “Everything is such a blur. It’s just such a horrendous nightmare – devastating and heartbreaking.”
As a baby, Laura suffered encephalitis – a condition where the brain swells. She was left brain-damaged and was wheelchair-bound all her life.
She also had a rare form of severe epilepsy condition called West syndrome.
Laura, from Kilwinning, Ayrshire, was travelling to a Haven holiday resort near Berwick-upon-Tweed with her mum, stepdad Colin Irvine and her brothers Daniel, 18, and Ross, 24, when she took the fatal seizure.
Colin, 34, said the schoolgirl had seemed fine in the hours before she fell ill.
He added: “She was alert, she was up. She was watching us pack the suitcases and the car.
“We travelled to the Q8 in Kilmarnock and she had her favourite McDonald’s meal. She even ate some of her mine.
“About half an hour from the campsite, Laura just started seizuring.
“The seizure she took was the one she used to take all the time and she always comes out of it. But she didn’t come out of it.”
Paramedics fought in vain for an hour to revive Laura.
In August last year, the teenager, who attended James McFarlane school in Ardrossan, moved with her mum and brothers, who also have special needs, from England to live with Colin.
Laura’s death means the family’s offer of social housing was revoked.
Cunninghame Housing Association (CHA) had offered them a home in Saltcoats with wheelchair access for Laura. But as they no longer met the criteria for adapted living after Laura’s death, the offer was withdrawn.
CHA passed on their condolences to the family and said they will be considered for accommodation “suited to their needs.”