A teenager died after a night out and thought her headache was just a symptom of a hangover.
19-year-old Áine Rose Hurst collapsed on 11 March last year and was rushed to Royal Bolton Hospital, where doctors found 'severe brain swelling' and she died two days later.
Áine had been on a night out on 8 March and the next morning, she had complained of having a headache, with her mum Kerry telling her to drink water and take paracetamol as she thought her daughter must have had a hangover.
However, the headache got worse resulting in her collapse a few days later, and an inquest into her death found that a rare complication from taking a contraceptive pill had been the cause of her death.
The teenager had been taking the pill since 2020 and Bolton Coroner's Court heard in November that she had died of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, with the oral contraceptive pill named as a 'potential contributing factor'.
Áine's family explained that she had been taking the combined contraceptive pill Femodette, but had been told to stop after a routine check-up on 18 December 2024 had shown that her blood pressure was high at 140/93.
She was told to stop taking the pill and see her GP, with blood pressure readings at home having her at 120/70, but when the Halliwell woman had an appointment with her doctor the following month on 6 January, 2025 she told them 'she would like to go back on the pill as soon as possible'.
Her blood pressure reading there was 130/90, within the limit, and they discussed her going onto a different pill but she 'declined going on because of the side effects', and the doctor felt it was a 'reasonable' decision for her to get back on the pill.
The doctor said he 'wasn’t convinced her blood pressure was due to the pill' as he 'would have expected her blood pressure to return much lower'.
The coroner said: "Looking back in hindsight, something might appear very obvious - but the question is, was it obvious at the time?"
He said that medications can have very rare side effects and 'tragically, someone has to be that one in a thousand or one in ten thousand', and concluded that Áine's death was 'caused by a recognised but rare complication of appropriately prescribed medication'.
Her family paid tribute to her as the 'most beautiful, caring, funny and sensible girl'.
They said: "Áine adored her parents, her brother, her grandparents, her aunts, uncles, cousins, boyfriend and friends.
"She was the life and soul of every gathering and was often heard before she was seen as she had the loudest voice ever. She loved nothing more than a family get-together where she insisted on karaoke and a quiz where she was always the quiz master.
"This made her family laugh due to her struggling to pronounce most of the words in the questions. We would give anything to hear her ask one more question.
"Our family is distraught at losing her, life will never be the same for us without our girl."
Featured Image Credit: Kerry Hurst / SWNS
Joe Harker