Brit girl given weeks to dwell after catching flu on Turkey vacation
Clare Adams, 45, from Widnes, Cheshire, was diagnosed with a rare terminal lung disease after returning from a holiday in Turkey and is now fighting for a double lung transplant
Clare Adams with her partner Chris(Image: Supplied)
A woman who fell ill while on holiday in Turkey has been given just weeks to live. Clare Adams, 45, from Widnes, began feeling unwell during the summer of 2023 after visiting Marmaris. Clare contracted flu while abroad and never recovered properly afterwards. For months, she experienced breathing difficulties and medics couldn’t determine why she remained poorly.
Speaking to the ECHO, Clare said: “I went on holiday to Turkey and caught influenza. After coming back, my breathing was really bad. I couldn’t breathe at all. I couldn’t take two steps without being really breathless. I was getting really bad heart palpitations and just feeling poorly.
“I ended up in hospital for a week, where they treated me then for influenza and sent me home. Then I went to the doctors afterwards, who thought I had a long covid.”
Another GP subsequently told Clare he suspected she had a problem with the right side of her heart, though numerous tests and scans revealed nothing unusual, reports Cheshire Live.
Eventually, Clare received a diagnosis of an incurable condition called pulmonary arterial hypertension in November 2023. According to the NHS, this illness involves elevated blood pressure in the vessels supplying the lungs.
It’s a severe and uncommon condition that can harm the heart’s right side. Signs can include breathlessness.
Influenza doesn’t directly trigger pulmonary arterial hypertension, though it can spark serious lung complications. Upon hearing the diagnosis, Clare said: “It was more of a relief that I knew what was wrong with me. But the biggest shock was when the doctor told me that I couldn’t have children. I don’t have any children myself. That was the hardest thing to deal with.”
However, despite receiving treatment, Clare’s health deteriorated over the following year and a half. She revealed: “My breathing was getting worse. I was checking my heart rate and my oxygen levels all the time, they were really low.”
By May 2025, Clare was diagnosed with pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD).
PVOD is a rare, life-threatening cause of pulmonary hypertension.
Clare was given a prognosis of only a few weeks or months to live, but despite feeling shattered, she pledged to strive for a longer life. She declared: “It was obviously a big shock to the system but I just refused point blank [to accept it]. I thought, I’m not letting you decide when I die.”
After consulting another specialist, Clare was prescribed a treatment called epoprostenol, a drug that expands blood vessels. She doesn’t know how much time she has left, but is hopeful of receiving a transplant soon to extend her life further.
Clare stated: “We have had very slight improvements over the last 12 months and along with a massive one stone loss, I’m fighting my way to get a double lung transplant.
“I am in a wheelchair and on oxygen 24/7, having to wear a mask, as my body doesn’t hold oxygen at all. I didn’t think I was a strong person, but to get through this last year…I wouldn’t say it’s been like a massive fight, but it’s been a steady fight of continuously just laughing through everything, working on my mindset and watching what I eat.”
Clare is now using her experiences as inspiration for a children’s book titled My Auntie. The book aims to shed light on what life is like living with her condition, in the hope of raising awareness about disabilities.
Clare shared: “One of my nephews broke his kneecap playing rugby. To keep him occupied, because he couldn’t go to school, I said to him, ‘come on, we’ll write a book together about little things that we used to do.’ So the first book we wrote was called Auntie Cra Cra and Frankie Go to the Park.
“And then he said, ‘why don’t we talk about the way that you look?’ So that’s where my auntie book comes from. It’s really just a book to tell people that even though I look different, I can still do the same things as what a normal auntie can do. It hits children really hard when people are sick. My nieces and nephews have never once treated me any differently. They’ve just got on with everything that has been thrown our way. I think the children can teach the adults sometimes.”
My Auntie (Adventures with Auntie Cra Cra) is available for purchase on Amazon.
