Shock death of Beaufort girl still grieving for dad (From South Wales Argus)

Shock death of Beaufort girl still grieving for dad

12:20pm Thursday 12th November 2009

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A GRIEVING grandmother spoke of her family's loss yesterday after her 16-year-old granddaughter died from a heart attack.

The shock death came 15 months on from Ebbw Vale's Amanda Hurley finding her father dead in their home after he suffered a brain haemorrhage.

The teenager complained about shortness of breath shortly before collapsing in the family home on October 26, the day she was due to go to the cinema with her boyfriend, Scott Wilstead, to celebrate being together for one month.

Her grandmother, Maureen Hurley, from Beaufort, dialled 999 and when the rapid response vehicle arrived, Amanda, who had gained 12 GCSEs, regained consciousness, but suffered a cardiac arrest in the ambulance.

She was taken to Abergavenny's Nevill Hall Hospital, but was pronounced dead on October 27 after almost 24 hours on a life support machine.

Mrs Hurley, 69, said the former Glyncoed secondary school pupil never got over the loss of her father, Nigel, who died 15 months ago.

"I don't think Amanda really ever came to terms with it, she pined for her dad, they were very close," she said.

The youngster would visit a memorial made for her father every Sunday, laying yellow flowers as that was his favourite colour.

Following her father's death, Amanda and her older sister Stacey, 17, moved into Frost Road, Beaufort, with Mrs Hurley and her husband, Derek, 73, as their mother moved to Swansea, but they wanted to stay in the area.

Eldest sister Rachel, 23, lives in South Bank, the former family home.

The youngster had no previous health problems and Mrs Hurley, who referred to her granddaughter as "her black-eyed beauty" said the heart attack "came out of the blue.

She added: "Before her dad died, she was a livewire, she went everywhere with him - but after she just gave up. We'll never come to terms with this, it's been terrible."

Amanda was studying health and social care at Coleg Gwent and wanted to go to university before to become a paediatric nurse.

A service was held on November 5 at Christchurch, Ebbw Vale, before the funeral at Brynmawr cemetery.

Her father's ashes were placed in her coffin.

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