Rugby league star launches appeal after sudden unexplained death of daughter, 21

“I don’t want any other mother to go through what I am going through now.”

These are the words of Tracy Boothroyd whose daughter Felicia died suddenly in her sleep from an epileptic seizure.

Felicia was just 21 when she had her first seizure in her sleep – within 10 months epilepsy had claimed her life.

The tragedy has left her family devastated but they are now doing all they can to ensure other families don’t have to endure the same anguish.

Felicia’s parents, former rugby league star Alan Boothroyd, who played for Huddersfield, Bradford, Dewsbury and Keighley, and his wife, Tracy, have set up Fee’s Fund.

The couple, from Huddersfield, are trying to raise as much as they can to fund wrist monitors which give an early warning of an epileptic attack in a bid to avoid more young lives being lost.

“People need to be aware that unexplained deaths in young people can be prevented,” says Tracy.

Epilepsy experts warn that countless young people are vulnerable to epilepsy which can often start in their late teens or early 20s and the reasons why they suddenly begin often remain a mystery although triggers could include stress, sleep deprivation or hormonal changes.

For Alan, Tracy and their other children, Rachel, 32, and Zac, 28, life will never be the same since they lost Felicia who died at her home on August 17 last year. Even now, months later, it’s very difficult for heartbroken Tracy and Alan to talk about the 22-year-old who they say was exceptionally kind, loving and lit up every room with her dazzling personality.

“Fee was born on New Year’s Day 1997 and was always so bright, bubbly, caring deeply for others,” said 54-year-old Alan. “She loved animals dearly and when she was nine announced she was becoming a vegetarian and she stuck to it.”

Felicia, who was a student at Almondbury High and then both Greenhead College and Huddersfield New College, was studying Forensic Psychology at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle. During the long summer holidays she worked with disabled people at Fixby Lodge care home in Brackenhall.

“She absolutely loved the job because she was so compassionate and caring. She spoke to absolutely anybody she could – mind you, Fee really could talk,” says Alan.

Felicia had her head shaved to raise £800 for Kirkwood Hospice in Huddersfield and had been on the charity’s Midnight Memory walks.

Felicia’s seizures only happened when she was asleep and the first was in November 2018 when she was in Newcastle. She woke and immediately discovered she had badly bitten her tongue. She realised it was a seizure and in the months that followed spoke to Tracy about her fears epilepsy would one day claim her life.

Hospital scans didn’t give any indication as to why Felicia had suddenly started with the seizures and she began to take anti-epileptic medication.

But Felicia suffered a fatal seizure while in bed at home on August 17.

“You think this kind of thing would never happen to you, it just happens to other people,” says Tracy. “Well, we have now become one of those other people. I just miss Fee so much.”

The couple say special wrist monitors give an early indication to the onset of an epileptic attack as they pick up changes in temperature and heartbeat. The monitors can be linked to phones or pagers to alert other people in the house so they can quickly respond to make sure the sufferer is safe during the seizure and can be put in the recovery position immediately afterwards.

They launched a justgiving page which has already raised more than £9,000.

Through friends and word-of-mouth they have found five young people in Huddersfield, Calderdale and Lincoln with epilepsy who will benefit from the monitors and realise there are many more out there who need them.

“Even people who work in the health service don’t know about the monitors so it’s absolutely vital we get the message spread far and wide,” says Tracy.

“Countless numbers of teenagers and young people are at risk of the sudden onset of epilepsy and the dangers that can cause them. Our mission now is to do all we can to mitigate those risks and save as many lives as possible, giving other families peace of mind.”

According to the Epilepsy Society there are more than half a million people with epilepsy in the UK. Around 600 people die each year due to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (or SUDEP). Although the percentage of the population who are affected by SUDEP is relatively low, every death due to SUDEP is thought to be potentially avoidable.

Each monitor costs £900 plus a £30 a month subscription fee and Fee’s Fund will pay for the first 18 months’ subscription for those it donates.

At her funeral Felicia’s coffin featured a graphic of penguins as she adored them and the service at Huddersfield Crematorium screened a short film with veteran broadcaster David Attenborough speaking the lyrics to the song What A Wonderful World set to images of nature.

Tracy also does watercolour paintings which she has sold to raise money for the monitors.

Alan and Tracy are keen to stress that every day you spend with your children is precious and they cherish a birthday card Felicia sent to Tracy from Newcastle which read: “Going to Newcastle has made me appreciate you so much.

“I miss you every day and love you so much.”

Purple Day, on March 26, is an International Epilepsy Awareness Day.

Tracy has set up a seizure awareness page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Personal-Blog/Seizure-Awareness-For-my-little-ray-of-Sunshine-112540006908071/