I tributi sono stati pagati a uno scolaretto da calcio Salford dopo aver tragicamente morto per un attacco di asma. Ben O'Neill, 12 anni, ha giocato per il team locale Bar Hill JFC in Irlams O’th ’Altezza ed è stato un enorme sostenitore del Manchester United.

L'allievo del liceo di Buile Hill di 12 anni, allievo di asma improvviso, non si aspettava il suo salotto. è il solito segno che stava avendo un attacco. Un ventilatore in terapia intensiva.

Ben’s mother, Nicola Newns 35, said: “It was not expected at all. Ben woke up at 2am coughing, which is the usual sign that he was having an attack. I ran to get his inhaler, but he had stopped breathing within seconds.”

She added: “We live just across the road from Salford Royal Hospital and the paramedics were here within a minute even though it felt like an hour. They worked on him for 48 minutes but there was nothing they could do. Ben’s brother, Jacob, has brittle asthma too, and he has been in hospital four times on a ventilator in intensive care. Ben has never had as severe attacks as Jacob, and I always feared something might happen to Jacob, but not Ben.”

L'asma è un problema di salute che affligge circa 5,4 milioni di persone nel Regno Unito; Circa 1 su 12 adulti e 1 su 11 bambini ha l'asma. Sebbene la causa dell'asma sia aperta al dibattito e non ancora completamente compreso, il problema polmonare è noto per correre nelle famiglie, come dimostrato con Ben e suo fratello, e più devono essere fatti per aumentare la consapevolezza dell'asma - una vista condivisa dalla madre di Ben. Per essere anche loro. per coprire i costi funebri di Ben. Il funerale si svolgerà questo venerdì a St James e All Souls Church vicino a Salford Precinct. "Nessuna persona che lo incontrava non avrebbe sorriso alla sua memoria", dice sua madre.

She says: "He was loved by everyone that knew him - he was full of energy and a clown, he made you laugh. He had played football for a season with Barr Hill. His brothers played for them and he wanted to be like them too. I think people need to be educated about asthma. I would hate this to happen to another family. People think that asthma is just a bit of a wheeze which can be sorted out with an inhaler, but the type Ben had isn’t.”

A one minute’s silence was held in his memory prior to all matches at the weekend in the Salford league Ben played in and 50 people have donated over £500 so far as part of an appeal fund to cover Ben’s funeral costs. The funeral will take place this Friday at St James and All Souls Church near Salford Precinct. “Not one person who met him wouldn’t smile at his memory”, says his mother.

Kay Boycott, amministratore delegato di Asma UK, ha parlato della tragica morte di Ben, commentando: "È sempre angosciante che sia morto perché è morto a causa di un po 'di asma, a causa di un bambino. Trattamento per l'asma, eppure ogni anno uccide abbastanza bambini per riempire un'aula. ”