17-year-old Daniel Jolly died after asthma attack

Daniel Jolly smashed his bedroom window as he battled for air, but not even an emergency nebulizer was able to help the 17-year-old.

Post-mortem results are today expected to reveal what triggered the massive attack that killed the Barton Peveril College A-level law student.

Daniel and his parents Jim, 49, and Brenda, 52, were well rehearsed in the warning signs of an attack and how to respond, but this one was more severe than anything they had seen.

“He said ‘I’m just going for a lie down mum, I feel a bit woozy’,” Mrs Jolly told the Daily Echo.

“I went in to check on him and he was standing, but he couldn’t breathe – he had a nebuliser but it wasn’t touching him. I said ‘Get yourself dressed, I’m getting an ambulance’, but he said ‘Mum, I can’t. I can’t breathe.’”

Mrs Jolly called 999 and waited by the gate of their home in Dodwell Lane, Bursledon, to direct the ambulance, but Daniel collapsed.

“They were here quickly, but it happened so fast it was just too late for him. I remember shouting to him ‘Dan, they’re here, they’re here,’ but it was too late. I could tell he was gone.

“The paramedics tried for about an hour and a half, but there was nothing they could do.”

As well as the emergency medical team, Mr and Mrs Jolly paid tribute to the doctors who helped their son battle his chronic asthma.

Ahead of Daniel’s funeral, the couple, who have two other sons – Matthew, 13, and nine-year-old Luke – have asked for donations to the Asthma Allergy and Inflammation Research (AAIR) charity based at Southampton General Hospital instead of flowers.

Daniel was diagnosed with asthma when he was just a few months old.

Mrs Jolly added: “He never complained about it. They asked him to volunteer for research and he said yes and just did it, no matter how much it hurt.

“He could run around on a football pitch for two or three hours and it didn’t even make him cough or sneeze, but it’s as if there’s something in the air that just triggered it off.”

Hundreds of mourners are expected to attend the funeral of the former pupil of St George’s School in Southampton and Fareham’s Henry Cort School.

Daniel, who worked part-time at Pizza Hut in Hedge End, will be buried in a white coffin painted with a bright orange Harley Davidson bike to represent one of his favourite hobbies.

A keen footballer and motorcyclist, he was a long-standing member of Fareham and Gosport District Football Club, and Tigers motorcycle display team.

He also played the piano and guitar and had secured a place at the Academy of Contemporary Music.

“But he was studying law at college and hadn’t decided what he was going to go for. That was typical of him – he was so laidback,” said Mrs Jolly.

Daniel’s funeral service will take place at St Margaret Mary Church, Park Gate, at 11am on Friday.