Family and teachers of a teenage boy from Little Hulton who passed away after suffering a deadly asthma attack are to carry out a 10-hour, 40-mile walk in his memory.
Thomas-Michael Martin, known as Tom, was just 15 when he died on 23 May 2016, in terribly tragic circumstances.
The teenager lived with brittle asthma, the most serious form of the condition, which causes episodes of prolonged and severe breathing difficulties.
After suffering an attack during the school day at Walkden High School, he was on the way to hospital with his mum when he collapsed.
The 15-year-old was just minutes away from seeing doctors at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital but died in the car park before he could be treated.
Brittle asthma affects around 5 per cent of patients with the condition and attacks can come on suddenly with little or no warning.
Thomas had been left with brain damage after a previous attack cut off blood and oxygen to the brain when he went into respiratory arrest.
The blue ‘reliever’ inhalers carried by most asthmatics will often not work to relieve symptoms of brittle athsma.
Instead patients have to be treated quickly with oxygen and other medications if they suffer an attack.
Many require regular injections, or must have their medicated intravenously, and if the difficulties are severe patients may will need to be put on a ventilator in intensive care until their breathing stabilises.
On the day he passed away Tom had been sent home from school after he started to feel unwell.
“He always knew when himself he wasn’t well,” said mum Dawn Gerrard, “and usually if I said I’d take him to hospital he’d agree.”
“This time though he said he didn’t want to go but I convinced him to.
“He’d been laughing and joking as he got in the car, telling my friend she was going to have to go in the back.
“As I turned into the hospital he slumped over and his ears went black.”
Thomas would be pronounced dead soon after. The cause was later determined as multiple cardiac arrests.
In his memory, five teachers from Walkden High School are joining family for a sponsored walk in support of Ronald McDonald House, from Liverpool all the way to Manchester.
Ronald McDonald House provides free accommodation for families with children who are being treated in hospital.
In all the walk is 39 miles door to door
The mother-of-three said Ronald McDonald House had been ‘fantastic’ with her family, and could not praise them enough.
“It made the situation so much easier and was a home from home.
“Tom’s brother came over from Ireland and each room in the house has four beds so he was able to stay in the Ronald McDonald House with me for a few days.”
So far £286.54 has been raised in a Just Giving fund, with campaigners hoping to hit a total of £1,000.
All proceeds of the sponsored walk will go to the Ronald McDonald House and asthma charities.
It starts at 4am on Saturday 30 July outside Ronald McDonald House in Liverpool, dropping in at Little Hulton and Swinton town centres before crossing the finish line at Ronald McDonald House later that afternoon.
Those taking part will be wearing T-shirts bearing the Ronald McDonald House logo and carrying buckets and flags.
His mother Dawn paid tribute to his son’s character in the face of his condition: “He just got on with day to day life.
“I wish that he knew how much he meant to the school”.
Dawn said that although the months since her son’s tragic passing have been ‘killing her’, the upcoming walk being in his name has ‘made [Tom] almost seem real again’.
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