A GRIEVING mother whose daughter died suddenly from a rare genetic condition is encouraging others to attend an awareness day in her memory.

Donna Pontin, 61, from Stratton, is helping organise the Turner Syndrome Support Society awareness day which will take place at Swindon Supermarine, South Marston, on June 21.

The social worker’s daughter Holly died in 2012, aged 21, due to a dissected aorta, a common side effect arising from chromosomal disorder Turner Syndrome.

Turner syndrome affects around one in every 2,000 baby girls.

Sufferers are usually shorter than average, have underdeveloped ovaries which results in infertility and experience problems entering puberty.

They can be prone to heart defects and have a shortened life expectancy. There is no cure for the condition.

Donna said: “Holly was diagnosed quite late in life, at the age of 16.

"She was always very petite, probably about 4ft 10ins, but I had no idea that there was anything wrong.”

It was only after Holly started showing signs of the menopause that a battery of blood tests confirmed she had the condition.

“I had never heard of the condition before Holly’s diagnosis,” said Donna.

“When we first Googled the condition it all began to fall into place. The Turner Syndrome Support Society was the first group that came up and we’ve been in touch ever since.

“The support they offered was invaluable. They helped us and they helped Holly talk to children and young adults who had the same condition as her. I know that meant a lot to Holly.”

The teenager was given growth hormone treatment which enabled her to gain four inches in height and the condition was seemingly under control for five years.

Holly handled the condition well on the whole but found it difficult that she could not have biological children.

“She was unhappy that she was unable to have children,” sad Donna.

“She would say, ‘Mum can I adopt children? Wll they let me?’ But she was so young I said we could worry about that later.

“All that mattered to us was that she was happy and stable, and she was.”

In November 2012 the promising New College student who dreamed of a career in the ambulance service died in her sleep, after suffering chest pains on a night out with friends.

Donna said she, husband David and sons Ross and Jack took comfort in the fact the “kind, thoughtful and stubborn” student was at a good juncture in her life.

“When it happened she was happy, I know that,” said Donna.

“She was studying and she had a boy she was going to go out with.

“It happened very suddenly and I’m glad that she was with me and that she went quickly rather than being in hospital.

“She never thought she had that many friends or was that well liked, but at her funeral there were so many people who came to support her and us.”

With no Swindon-based Turner syndrome groups, Donna hopes the awareness day will enable her to set up a friendship support group closer to home.

The Turner Syndrome Support Society free awareness day will be held on Sunday, June 21, from 11am to 4pm at Swindon Supermarine.

For more information contact Arlene Smith on 01451 952 8006, or email don8275@hotmail.co.uk.