The University of Chester have paid a poignant tribute to one of their nursing students who died suddenly on her first day working at Warrington Hospital.
Lucy Blackburn, 20, was found collapsed by colleagues on Tuesday December 1 after what is thought to have been an epileptic fit, hours before she was due to finish the end of her shift.
Shortly before, she had posted a Snapchat picture to her friends of her feet, with the words: ‘Only two hours left’.
Lucy, who was from Hapton in Lancashire, was in her second year at the university, studying for a Bachelors Nursing degree for which she lived on the University of Chester’s Warrington campus.
Professor Annette McIntosh-Scott, Provost of the Warrington Campus of the University of Chester and the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Care paid tribute to her and appealed for her family to be left to grieve in private.
“A sudden death is always shocking, and when it is a young person, at the start of their career, it becomes even more poignant,” she said.
“Lucy Blackburn was on the Bachelor of Nursing (Adult Nursing) programme and our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time. She was a popular and well-respected second year, who was already showing promise in her studies and her clinical practice.
“Our students and staff at the Warrington Campus and Warrington Hospital are particularly close-knit communities and have been offered help from both the University’s Student Support and Guidance and Chaplaincy teams,” she added.
“As her friends and colleagues come to terms with Lucy’s sad loss, we ask for the media’s understanding that they need to grieve in private.”
A fund set up by Lucy’s friends to raise money for a minibus for the hospital has already surpassed £8,000. Friends on the gofundme page said organising a method of transport to get to work safely was extremely important to Lucy.
To donate, visit the Gofundme website .
Did you know Lucy? You can pay tribute in the comments below or email cheshire.news@trinitymirror.com
