Woman, 45, given weeks to live after returning from Turkey holiday with flu

A British woman who fell ill after a sunshine break in Turkey now has no idea how long she has left to live.

Clare Adams, 45, from Widnes, started feeling “really bad” after catching flu on a trip to Marmaris, and says she’s never felt the same since. For months she battled terrifying breathlessness, but medics were unable to explain why her condition kept getting worse.

Speaking to the ECHO, Clare explained: “I went on holiday to Turkey and caught influenza. After coming back, my breathing was really bad. I couldn’t breathe at all. I couldn’t take two steps without being really breathless. I was getting really bad heart palpitations and just feeling poorly.

Clare is now in a wheelchair and has to wear an oxygen mask(Image: Supplied)

“I ended up in hospital for a week, where they treated me then for influenza and sent me home. Then I went to the doctors afterwards, who thought I had a long covid.”

A subsequent medical consultation led another doctor to suspect complications affecting the right chamber of her heart, though numerous examinations and scans failed to reveal any irregularities, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Clare ultimately received a diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension in November 2023, an incurable condition. The NHS describes this illness as elevated blood pressure within the vessels supplying the lungs.

It represents a severe and uncommon disorder capable of compromising the heart’s right side. Breathlessness features amongst its characteristic symptoms. While influenza doesn’t directly cause pulmonary arterial hypertension, it can lead to severe lung-related complications.

Reflecting on receiving her diagnosis, Clare, who has a partner called Chris, said: “It was more of a relief that I knew what was wrong with me. But the biggest shock was when the doctor told me that I couldn’t have children. I don’t have any children myself. That was the hardest thing to deal with.”

Clare with her nephews Frankie and Brodie(Image: Supplied)

Yet despite receiving treatment, Clare’s condition deteriorated over the following 18 months. She explained: “My breathing was getting worse. I was checking my heart rate and my oxygen levels all the time, they were really low.”

Come May 2025, Clare received a diagnosis of pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD) – a rare and life-threatening form of pulmonary hypertension.

Medics gave Clare a prognosis of mere weeks to months at most, though devastated by the news, she remained determined to defy the odds. She said: “It was obviously a big shock to the system but I just refused point blank [to accept it]. I thought, I’m not letting you decide when I die.”

Following consultation with another specialist, Clare began treatment with epoprostenol, a drug designed to dilate blood vessels. While uncertain about her remaining time, she’s pinning her hopes on securing a transplant to extend her life further.

Clare said: “We have had very slight improvements over the last 12 months and along with a massive one stone loss, I’m fighting my way to get a double lung transplant.

“I am in a wheelchair and on oxygen 24/7, having to wear a mask, as my body doesn’t hold oxygen at all. I didn’t think I was a strong person, but to get through this last year…I wouldn’t say it’s been like a massive fight, but it’s been a steady fight of continuously just laughing through everything, working on my mindset and watching what I eat.”

Drawing from her personal journey, Clare is now penning a children’s book titled My Auntie, which chronicles what living with her condition entails. She hopes the publication will shed light on life with a disability.

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Clare said: “One of my nephews broke his kneecap playing rugby. To keep him occupied, because he couldn’t go to school, I said to him, ‘come on, we’ll write a book together about little things that we used to do.’ So the first book we wrote was called Auntie Cra Cra and Frankie Go to the Park.

“And then he said, ‘why don’t we talk about the way that you look?’ So that’s where my auntie book comes from. It’s really just a book to tell people that even though I look different, I can still do the same things as what a normal auntie can do.

“It hits children really hard when people are sick. My nieces and nephews have never once treated me any differently. They’ve just got on with everything that has been thrown our way. I think the children can teach the adults sometimes.”

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My Auntie (Adventures with Auntie Cra Cra) is available to buy on Amazon.