Summary
A 25-year-old woman died in just over a month after an illness triggered by catching the flu. When Rachel Catterall’s daughter, Daisy, phoned her one morning complaining of swollen glands in her neck, neither of them thought much of it. But just over a month later, the 25-year-old had died.
Details
H er flu-like symptoms triggered a life-threatening condition, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), in which an overactive immune system attacks the body’s organs and blood cells. Rachel, a painter and decorator, had never heard of this before her daughter’s death – and is now sharing her story in a bid to raise awareness of this deadly disease.
“I was watching the doctors work on her when they said she couldn’t be saved,” said the mum-of-three, from Cirencester. “I could see they were right. Her body had been ravaged by this hideous disease.
Basically, her own body was killing her. “When they called time, I was absolutely devastated. I could see there was no chance for her, though.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.” Daisy, who worked for the local council, had just bought her first home with her long-term boyfriend, Matty, now 27. While travelling the world together, they were making plans to get married and start a family. An avid gym-goer, Daisy was very fit, and the 55-year-old recalls her daughter never being ill in her entire life.
Until the phone call in January 2025. Rachel said: “I really didn’t think a lot about it at the time. The doctors told her it was a viral infection and gave her some antibiotics.
Over the next few weeks, she was back and forth with them. “She had gotten over the swollen glands, but then the achy joints started, as well as rashes. They all said it was the same thing and that she had nothing to worry about.
Although she was under the weather, I still wasn’t worried, as she was just a fit and healthy woman in her 20s.” Then, the week before Rachel and her husband, Sam, also 55, were due to go on a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam, their youngest was admitted to hospital. Rachel said: “Her bloods were not how they should be; the count was abnormal. Over the next few days, I sat with her in the hospital.
What You Need to Know
Until the phone call in January 2025. Rachel said: “I really didn’t think a lot about it at the time. The doctors told her it was a viral infection and gave her some antibiotics.
