Written by: Aisling Bolton-Dowling, Irish Independent
Life was perfect for Aislinn Nelson Comerford.
The Kilkenny woman had just married the love of her life at her dream wedding and welcomed their precious baby boy into the world.
Aislinn (34) loved her job and the newly married couple had just bought their first house.
Life for the young family was only just starting as they looked forward to a future spent together.
But Aislinn never got the opportunity to see her baby boy reach his first birthday.
A life cut tragically short
On July 22, 2024, after telling her husband and son she loved them, Aislinn tragically died from a sudden pulmonary embolism, a devastating form of thrombosis.
She left behind her 10-month-old son, her husband of just 3 months, her parents, her six older siblings and her friends
Thrombosis, the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, is often called a ‘silent killer’ because it can strike without warning, and many people are unaware of the symptoms until it’s too late.
What seemed like just a cold
“In July of 2024, Aislinn had what seemed to be a bit of a cold,” Aislinn’s sister, Audrey Comerford said. “It seemed to be like a chest infection and a bit of a cough. She was pale, but what new mother isn’t pale because they are exhausted. Other than that, Aislinn was in great spirits, life was good.”
Aislinn rang her GP to make an appointment, however she was faced with a long waiting time until an appointment would be available.
“She rang her GP for an appointment to get her cold checked out but her GP couldn’t prioritise her and only had an appointment for three weeks time,” recalled Audrey.
“Aislinn didn’t want to push hard for an appointment because she thought it was just a cold and she didn’t want to take an appointment from someone else. The doctor offered her the option of visiting the drop-in clinic but that didn’t suit her because of work and she thought it was just a cold so she decided to endure it and wait for the doctor’s appointment.
“No 34-year-old thinks they have a catastrophic condition.”
The final weekend together
Life carried on as normal for the young family. As the youngest of seven, Aislinn had plenty of support from her large family as she navigated the early stages of motherhood.
“I saw Ais [Aislinn] on the Friday before she died,” said Audrey. “She came over to my parents house as I had brought scones for everyone and I had brought a special batch of raspberry scones for Ais because she didn’t like fruit scones.
“She was still in good spirits, but still had the cold and a little bit of shortness of breath on exertion. She was still quite pale and in hindsight now I can see that paleness was because of low blood pressure as part of the condition advancing and becoming more symptomatic.
“We had no clue that cold symptoms and paleness would turn out to be something so devastating.”
On Sunday, July 21, the day before Aislinn died, she visited her parents and family one last time. Her condition was the same. She was still pale, had a cold and bit of shortness of breath, but her mood was high and she was joking and laughing with everyone and even went for a walk with her husband in the fields surrounding her parent’s house.
That was the last time her parents and siblings saw Aislinn alive.
‘I love you’ – her final words
“The next morning, Monday July 22, Ais woke up to go to work,” recalled Audrey. “She went into her son’s room to see her little boy who was only ten months old. She said good morning to him and told him ‘I love you’. Ais and her husband then said ‘I love you’ to each other and then suddenly Ais became short of breath.”
Aislinn’s husband ran to get the phone to call an ambulance. He returned seconds later and found Aislinn collapsed on the floor.
“By the time her husband came back with the phone to ring the ambulance, Aislinn had collapsed. He performed CPR on Ais until the ambulance arrived and called my parents to say she had collapsed .The ambulance did what they could but it was too catastrophic an event so she didn’t even make it to hospital.”
Audrey, who is a nurse, was at her computer in work when she received the life-shattering phone call from her mum informing her that Aislinn had collapsed.
Audrey dropped everything and rushed to be with her baby sister, while her parents jumped in their car to try to get to their daughter in time.
When Aislinn’s parents pulled up outside her house they saw the ambulances parked up.
“Where there’s an ambulance there is hope,” her parents said to each other as they rushed out of the car and into the house. But it was too late, Aislinn was already gone.
“My colleague was driving me home so I could get my car and go straight to Ais at her house but during the drive my father rang me to confirm that the awfulness had happened, that Ais was gone.
“We were all in this nightmare of confusion and shock because it was so sudden and she was just there and gone and we didn’t know what happened. Now we know she died from a pulmonary embolism, a form of thrombosis.”
Understanding the silent killer
There are two main types of thrombosis; venous thrombosis also known as VTE (a blood clot in the veins) and arterial thrombosis (a blood clot in the arteries).
Two subtypes of venous thrombosis are deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). A DVT is a blood clot that forms in a deep vein, usually in your leg. According to the HSE, the symptoms include warmth or redness in a leg and/or swelling or pain in one leg or calf. It is important to note that you may not show any symptoms.
A PE, which Aislinn lost her life from, is when a DVT or part of the DVT travels in the blood and becomes lodged in a blood vessel in your lungs.
Symptoms include shortness of breath or rapid breathing, chest pain which may be worse when you breathe in, a cough or coughing up blood and feeling dizzy.
New mothers at higher risk
Aislinn, like many new mothers or pregnant women, was at a higher risk of getting thrombosis, however, many new and expectant mothers are not aware of this or know what symptoms to look out for.
“Pregnant and postpartum women have an elevated chance of getting thrombosis,” explained Audrey. “On top of that, Ais was on the combined oral contraceptive pill in the lead up to her wedding because she didn’t want to get pregnant before her wedding so she was being responsible and family planning. However, the combined oral contraceptive pill increases your risk of blood clots from mild to moderate risk so her risk was increased by taking the pill.”
Aislinn also had a C-section when having her son as he was coming feet first into the world. A recent surgery, like a C-section can also increase the risk of DVT.
Also for any women on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), this can also increase your risk so it is important to keep an eye out for any thrombosis symptoms while on HRT.
Why thrombosis awareness lags behind
Since Aislinn’s sudden death in July of 2024, Audrey has had a lot of time to think about why there is a lack of awareness about thrombosis, a condition which is ultimately life-threatening if not dealt with in time.
“I have had a lot of time to think about this and I have come to the conclusion that one of the reasons why thrombosis is not spoken about as much as other conditions is because if someone passes away from cancer, people already knew they were sick with cancer before they passed,” said Audrey.
“But with thrombosis, it is so sudden and can happen to someone who is young and seemingly has full health. Families have to wait several months for the post-mortem results to confirm it was thrombosis that caused the death of their loved one. By the time you get those results, people outside of family and close friends have moved on with their lives and aren’t talking about the sudden death anymore and wondering what caused it.
“When people hear that a young person has died suddenly and with no prior illness, they just automatically assume it was suicide.”
Over a year on from Aislinn’s death and Audrey and the rest of the family are determined to get people talking about thrombosis and aware of its symptoms and the symptoms of DVT and PE.
By using Aislinn’s story to raise awareness of Thrombosis, Aislinn’s legacy will live on and her life will continue to have purpose.
“If Aislinn’s story saves even one person, that’s her legacy,” said Audrey. “That’s why we have decided to organise a walk in her memory in order to raise awareness and get people talking about thrombosis.”
A walk to remember and raise awareness
Next month, on September 6 at 2pm, just a few days before her son’s second birthday, Aislinn’s family will hold a remembrance walk in Kilkenny Countryside Park in Dunmore, Co Kilkenny, which was Aislinn’s favourite place to go for a walk.
“This walk will be upbeat, a celebration of Aislinn’s life and everyone is welcome to join us and just turn up on the day,” said Audrey. “On the day we will be speaking about thrombosis and raising awareness of its symptoms.
“We are also hoping to have a Spotify playlist created of all of Aislinn’s favourite songs, so if you chose, you can listen to that as you do the walk. We hope this walk will become an annual event.”
Support that helped the family heal
World Thrombosis Day is also on October 13 with 2025’s theme being ‘From Head to Toe, Take Control: Prevent Thrombosis, Protect Your Health’. This call to action encourages us all to be proactive and prioritise our health by keeping an eye out for thrombosis symptoms as blood clots can impact anyone and any part of the body.
“The last year and a bit hasn’t been an easy time for our family but I want to say a massive thank you to Anam Cara, a bereavement support network for parents who have lost children,” said Audrey. “They have been amazing to my parents and also Aislinn’s son.
“I also want to thank Kilkenny Bereavement Support and the Irish Heart Foundation who have also done so much for our family following Aislinn’s death.”
Along with the remembrance walk Aislinn’s family are also raising money for the Irish Heart Foundation who support people in Ireland with thrombosis, while also supporting families who have lost loved ones to thrombosis.
To donate to the fundraiser or to get more information about Aislinn’s remembrance walk, you can at https://www.justgiving.com/page/aislinn-stepforward-1
Support Anam Cara’s network for bereaved parents and families, providing life-giving community for those facing the most devastating loss of a beloved child
Article by Irish Independent. See https://www.independent.ie/regionals/kilkenny/news/family-of-young-kilkenny-mother-who-died-from-pulmonary-embolism-raise-awareness-of-silent-killer-condition/a1829262713.html