A who lost his within a few hours of one another says he is “lost and heartbroken.”

Mellodie-Ocean Jarman, 19, was 33 weeks pregnant when was rushed to Royal Bolton Hospital a day after she had complained of feeling unwell. Tragically, she collapsed and died despite the efforts of doctors.

Their unborn child, Athena-Pearl, was delivered by emergency C-section an hour later but doctors warned Daniel Darbyshire she was unlikely to survive. She too passed away a few hours later in her dead mother's arms, placed there by Daniel so she could take her last breath with her mum.

READ MORE:

The father, from Leigh, Greater said: “At the moment, I’m just lost. I'm pretty much lost and heartbroken. I’m not sure what to do.

“Mellodie would normally give me an insight on what to do and keep life as a structure, now it’s gone. At the moment, I’m just lost. The big word is pretty much lost and heartbroken, really.”

Mellodie first complained of feeling faint and dizzy on her way to a scan on Friday, January 31. A doctor said she had low iron levels, and prescribed her liquid iron and antibiotics before the couple, who had been together for more than two and a half years, returned home.

She was later rushed into hospital when had difficulty breathing and was struggling to see. Daniel said doctors do not know what caused her death and they are hoping an inquest will provide them with answers.

He added: “The day after she was fine throughout the day, we were watching telly and taking pictures, just messing around. She seemed fine.

“Then, on Saturday night she had the same again, saying she couldn’t hear and she could see white, like she did on Friday, and was struggling to breathe.

“At the time Mellodie passed it was heartbreaking, we were praying for baby to make it and try and survive. They tried giving baby every medication they could to try and help her, but the medication wasn’t working and the baby’s vitals and were dropping.

“That’s when we decided to move her and they took us down to the place where Mellodie was, while still giving baby oxygen, so baby would have her last breath with Mellodie as she got placed into her arms.

“We were planning on saving up and getting our own place together. We’d never been on holiday, so this year we were planning on going to , she wanted to go to Greece.

“We had a whole life planned together. We thought this wouldn’t happen, no-one did. We just planned on doing everything for the first time.”