A family has been left utterly devastated after a teenage mother and her premature baby daughter died within hours of each other at a Greater Manchester hospital.
A Mother's Agonising Loss
Justine Ryan has spoken of the heart-wrenching moment she "lost both my girls", watching her only daughter and her first granddaughter take their final breaths. Her daughter, Mellodie-Ocean Jarman, was just 19 years old and 33 weeks pregnant when the unthinkable tragedy unfolded.
The young mother-to-be from Atherton was rushed to Royal Bolton Hospital in the early hours of February 2 after complaining of difficulty breathing and problems with her vision. Paramedics had battled to revive her after she suffered a cardiac arrest at home.
The Fight to Save Mother and Baby
Upon arrival at the hospital, medical teams performed an emergency Caesarean section. Mellodie gave birth to her daughter, Athena-Pearl, who was delivered seven weeks prematurely. Despite the efforts of the medical staff, Mellodie died approximately one hour after the operation.
The family were then given the devastating news that baby Athena-Pearl was also not expected to survive. Mellodie's boyfriend, Daniel Derbyshire, faced the impossible decision to turn off his daughter's life support later that same day.
"They said it was hurting Athena to keep going," Daniel explained. "That's when we made the decision to have her last breath in Mellodie's arms. I was happy she could take her last breath with her mum." Athena-Pearl passed away at around 6.30pm on February 2.
Questions Over Prior Care
The tragedy followed a routine pregnancy scan just days before. On January 31, Mellodie had attended an appointment where she felt dizzy. She was sent home with medication after a doctor diagnosed her as being low on iron.
Her mother, Justine, 52, is now left with painful questions. "I only wish I'd been with her then," she said. "I would have made sure she stayed in hospital – maybe she'd still be alive."
After being discharged, Mellodie's condition deteriorated rapidly the following evening. Justine described her daughter as being white, unable to hear properly, and saying she could see her grandfather who died in 2015. Justine called an ambulance at 11.22pm and was instructed to monitor her.
"The ambulance call handler was saying check she's breathing – I was blowing in her face and patting her on the back," Justine recalled, describing a "massive change" in her daughter minutes later. Tragically, Mellodie took her last breath in her mother's arms at home before she could be saved.
