Heart defect is blamed for teen Aidan Nisbett's sudden death
A teenager who collapsed while playing football at school and later died was suffering from an undiagnosed heart defect, an inquest was told.
Aidan Nisbett, 15, was in the playground at Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy on November 16 when he complained of chest pains and suddenly collapsed.
Smethwick Coroners Court yesterday heard that the youngster had been taken to Sandwell General Hospital in an "agitated" state.
He had later collapsed again and suffered a cardiac arrest.
Hospital staff battled to save his life but could not revive the teenager, of Elm Terrace, Tividale.
The inquest was told a post mortem had revealed one of the arteries of the teenager's heart was "an anomaly" going deep inside the muscles and had caused a "critical compression" leading to a reduction in oxygen.
His heartbroken parents Jacqueline Muir and Terence Nisbett were told the condition was not genetic so the other members of their family would not need checks.
The inquest was told that the chances of diagnosing the condition before it was too late were "slim" as there were no symptoms to detect.
Between 0.2 per cent and 5.6 per cent of the population are estimated to suffer with the condition.
Black Country coroner Robin Balmain said: "This is a plumbing problem in the way the artery has been formed."
He recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.
He told Aidan's parents: "This is a tragedy, and my heart goes out to you.
"As parents you expect to die before your children. I am really sorry this has happened to you. Although the condition was an anomaly, there was nothing unnatural in what happened."
Speaking after the inquest, Jacqueline described her son as very fit. She said he had loved sports and always ate healthily.
"We are devastated by what has happened. He was always so fit," she said.
His father said the inquest had answered any remaining questions about what had happened.
Family and friends of Aidan, who had hoped to study IT at college, are due to launch balloons in his memory at the school on Friday to mark his 16th birthday, which he would have celebrated on February 21.
They are also looking into having a bronze sculpture created in his memory but said this was currently in the early in the planning stages.
