Tragedy of mother who died moments before she could meet her newborn baby

Asthma sufferer Caroline Howarth defied the odds to become pregnant, and was delighted to find she was expecting a daughter with her footballer husband, Lee.

But the 24-year-old started having an asthma attack as she was about to give birth to her daughter, which then gave her a heart attack.

Baby Hallie-Rose had to be delivered by emergency C-section, but sadly Caroline never regained consciousness and died in hospital two days later.

A spokesperson for her family said: ‘She was so excited at being pregnant and was looking forward to having her little girl. But it wasn’t to be – she never got to see the baby.’

Caroline had fought medical problems for her entire life – being given only a 10 per cent chance of survival herself when she was born with two holes in her heart.

She also broke bones in her back in a car crash two years ago – with doctors telling her she would never walk again.

Caroline defied these odds to go onto have a healthy baby girl, but sadly her battle was over, with the family deciding to switch off her life support machine when they heard she would suffer permanent brain damage.