A HEARTBROKEN mother has told The Glasgow Times that she wants to remember her daughter for the 'angel' that she was.

Lauren Reid, a 19 year old chef from Dennistoun, tragically passed away on Friday after her mother Elaine, 44, made the difficult decision to switch off her life-support machine.

"Lauren loved life to the fullest" Elaine told The Glasgow Times.

"She was the most caring, thoughtful person. She phoned her gran on the day that she died, just to tell her today that she was buying lunch for 10 people on the shift that day. Lauren bought things for everyone, gave and gave and gave and never took back from anybody. So why did she get taken from us?"

Glasgow Times:

Lauren had taken an asthma attack after finishing her shift at Gin71, which escalated into cardiac arrest.

"She suffered since she was born" said Elaine. "About 2 weeks ago she had a flare up, and I got some antibiotics and steroids from the doctors. She finished the course only recently.

"Lauren said that she was okay on the day she had the attack, she was talking to my mum at 4pm and she was fine.

"I got a phone call at 9pm and I thought it was her, asking if she wanted the dinner on. It was her boss asking me to bring her inhalers. I thought they were bamming me up and that she was just sitting having a drink with her pals after work, but her boss said it was very serious.

"The last thing I heard was her shouting in the background 'Mum, I'm panicking".

Glasgow Times:

At that point, Lauren collapsed and suffered cardiac arrest. Her manager tried to revive her with CPR, and when she was taken to hospital a pulse was found, but Lauren had suffered permanent brain damage due to the lack of oxygen.

"I had got a taxi into town, and the taxi driver didn't know how to get to Virginia Court, where her work was. I could see the ambulances and I knew she was in them and I just shouted, 'Where is my wee wean? How can I get to my wee wean? '

"We were taken to the Royal in separate ambulances. We got her pulse back, but I was told that it was too late."

Asthma UK estimates that three people in the UK die every day from asthma attacks, and in 2018 114 people died from an asthma attack. Elaine couldn't believe that this was what killed her daughter, a girl who was so full of life, and who had so much more to give.

Glasgow Times:

"Lauren was such a good girl, a good egg. I know that every mum would say that and every story would be the same, but she was one in a million.

"She absolutely loved music, Rangers, and cooking. She was only just at the last game with her best friend, Darcy. She was meant to go to the game this weekend and had just bought my best friend's son his first Rangers strip for Christmas.

"Lauren adored her job, would work for hours on long shifts because she loved it so much. It was the only thing she liked in school, home economics. Work gave her the chance to start young and leave school, and she grabbed at it, and finished her apprenticeship a year early.

Glasgow Times:

"She loved music, and Gerry Cinnamon and Lewis Capaldi were her heroes. We went to Gerry Cinnamon before Christmas, and I bought her a ticket to see him in Hampden for her birthday. We were supposed to go to Stoke to see Robbie Williams, my hero. When she passed, Angels came on the speakers. It just came on.

"She'll be laughing at us now, getting pictures taken. Lauren wouldn't get dressed up a lot but when she did she was so beautiful."

Lauren is survived by her brother, Marc, who is 21 and her best friend Darcy.

Glasgow Times:

Joseph Carter, Head of Devolved Nations at Asthma UK Scotland, says: “Our deepest sympathies go to Lauren’s family for their devastating loss.

“There is nothing as terrifying as being unable to breathe but this is the reality for the 368,000 people with asthma in Scotland. Asthma can develop at any time of life and can vary hugely in severity. For some it is a condition that can be well managed with medicine and for others it can be completely debilitating and even fatal.

“For too long there has been a lack of awareness amongst the population about how serious asthma is with around one in six people not knowing it can be fatal**. It’s vital that everyone recognises the symptoms of asthma, especially when it is deteriorating, understands how serious the condition is and knows when to call for help.”

Glasgow Times:

Elaine wants to raise awareness of the seriousness of Asthma, especially in young people.

"Lauren had her inhaler with her everywhere, until the one day she went without them and this happened. It's so hard not to blame yourself.

"I want to have something like Lauren's Law, where young people who have asthma can wear a band or carry a card in their purse to let people know that they have asthma. I worry that if her boss wasn't there and she collapsed, someone would think she was maybe unconscious from drinking or drugs. But it was as simple as not having her inhaler that killed her."