The family of Branigan Smith, 21, from Radcliffe, are still searching for answers eight months after he collapsed and died suddenly during a family holiday in Turkey. The cause of his death remains unknown
Branigan Smith was pursuing his greatest passion to mark his dad’s 50th birthday. The 21-year-old was ‘obsessed with travel’.
So when James Heald reached a significant milestone, a family getaway to Turkey appeared the ideal way to celebrate it. Everything had appeared routine for the family, who were enjoying a ‘wonderful’ time during their break. But on the second-to-last evening, Branigan suddenly collapsed in the street.
He was rushed to hospital, where doctors battled for 50 minutes attempting to revive him, before he was tragically declared dead in the early hours of August 29 last year. Eight months later, and with the family gearing up for a charity football match in Branigan’s memory, they remain seeking answers – with the cause of their cherished son’s death still a mystery.
Mum Lisa Heald, 46, told the Manchester Evening News: “We’d had a lovely holiday. We went for a week, we had a boat trip for my husband’s 50th which was fun. On the Thursday we went out for a meal, everything was lovely.”, reports the Manchester Evening News.
“That Thursday night, Branigan wasn’t ill, he didn’t say he had a headache or anything like that. He had his tea – a steak – and four beers. We were walking back to a bar on the corner near our hotel and he just collapsed.” A nearby woman hurried to administer CPR to Branigan, from Radcliffe, while an ambulance was summoned. “The ambulance came quite quickly although I thought it was an absolute eternity,” Lisa recounted.
None of the family members were permitted to accompany Branigan from their holiday spot, near Dalaman, to the hospital. By the time they reached the hospital, medical staff were already attending to Branigan, but at around 12.25am doctors delivered the most devastating news to his loved ones.
Lisa shared: “They came out and said ‘we’ve tried for 50 minutes, we’re sorry he is unresponsive’.” Tragically, the family was never given the chance to bid a final farewell, with Branigan transported over 230km away to Antalya for a post-mortem.
“We were due to fly back on the Saturday,” Lisa revealed. “As his mum I said ‘I can’t go home and leave him here’, but they drove him to Antalya for a post-mortem. They wouldn’t let me see him.”
Branigan was eventually flown back to London Gatwick on September 3, before the coroner requested a Home Office post-mortem at Royal Oldham Hospital to seek clues about the cause of his death. Lisa says the post-mortem gave ‘no indication’ towards what could have happened.
With the family still desperately seeking answers, they have been informed that Branigan may have suffered a young sudden cardiac death. Lisa reveals the coroner has instructed Turkish authorities to hand over their documentation from Branigan’s post-mortem in Antalya. The family are hopeful these documents could at last provide some much-needed closure.
“Hopefully by the end of June we will have some kind of answer,” Lisa explained. “As his mum, I’ve gone over that night – during the day, did he disappear at any point not feeling well? There was nothing. That night was no different from any other night.”
Lisa and James are also deeply worried about their two daughters – Mackenzie, 27, and Daisy, 14 – as the pair cannot undergo screening for any potential conditions until the family discover what they should be monitoring. “I’m living in fear every time Mackenzie wants to go on holiday,” Lisa admitted.
“But would [Branigan’s death] have happened here anyway? Was it always going to be that day? There are so many questions that nobody has been able to answer.
“One of the hardest things is the world continues. The person I am now is not the same person when it happened. I was numb. But then you’re back at work, and the guilt comes – how are you back to this when someone so precious has gone?
“We flew back [from Turkey] and no one spoke. Still now we can’t understand it. It’s just like one second – your life changes in the blink of an eye. If it was a bang to the head from the fall [that caused Branigan’s death] we could process it.
“I had never heard of sudden cardiac death in the young. Branigan went to the gym four times a week, he went out with his mates at the weekend. He wasn’t overweight or unhealthy. He didn’t have any underlying health conditions.”
Heartbreakingly, the family were also prevented from seeing Branigan after he was brought back to the UK, owing to the condition of his body following the time spent in Turkey. “All that was taken away from us because if the amount of time it took to get him home,” said Lisa.
“When I asked to see him, the undertaker said ‘we can’t tell you no, we’d never do that, but they do things differently in different countries and I wouldn’t want you to have that image for the rest of your life’. That’s something else that we lost, that last goodbye. Everything was just taken away.”
Former Little Lever School pupil Branigan had been intent on transforming his passion for travel into a profession. He pursued travel and tourism at Bury College before undertaking an apprenticeship at Hays Travel, in Swinton, where he organised the holiday for a group of 12 to mark his dad’s 50th birthday and secured travel insurance.
Prior to finishing his education, the Bolton Wanderers supporter was also an enthusiastic footballer, having started at Radcliffe Juniors as a youngster before moving to Westbury. At 7.30pm on Friday, May 22, the two clubs will contest a fixture at Radcliffe FC’s Neuven Stadium in his memory to generate money for the British Heart Foundation – with admission priced at £1 and additional chances to contribute on the day.