Emotional tributes have been paid to a Team GB paintballer with "a heart of gold" who has died after almost a year battle.
Ammi Fagan, 24, from Walthamstow, east London, passed away on June 22 after suffering a brain aneurysm that haemorrhaged in July last year.
The young teacher initially thought the undetected brain aneurysm was a headache, and in total underwent 17 brain operations.
Ammi's sister, Miriam, wants to honour her younger brother in the wake of his death and increase awareness around brain aneurysms to save other people from the same fate as Ammi.
The 33-year-old told My London : "There were no signs before the aneurysm; he was your typical 23-year-old; he would hang out with friends, play sports, make people laugh."
She added: "The first indication that something wasn’t right came the night he had his first brain aneurysm.
"He was staying with his girlfriend; she says he woke up in the night with an excruciating headache.
"He took some painkillers and went back to sleep - he never woke up."
In hindsight, this 'headache' was a symptom of something severe and, more often than not, fatal.
Miriam said: "We know now that Ammi had a thunderclap headache, which is one of the symptoms of an aneurysm haemorrhaging.
"If we had known that at the time, there might have been a different outcome."
According to NHS data, around three in five people who have a subarachnoid haemorrhage, like Ammi, die within two weeks.
As well as teaching Ammi was a semi-professional paintballer for Team GB and would showcase his skills while touring the world.
Ammi was very family-orientated and one of five siblings.
Miriam said: "He would always have the biggest smile."
She added: "He also worked in education to help special needs children; he was working towards a new qualification that would enable him to become a teacher - he was due to start his new job in September 2020."
Not only did Ammi's family have to contend with the immediate tragedy surrounding his haemorrhage, but the emergency occurred during a global pandemic, with NHS resources strained and restrictions in place.
Miriam said: "Initially, we were not permitted any visits to the hospital to see Ammi.
"After his first operation, my mum was the only person allowed to visit him - for 15 minutes.
"He stayed in the Royal London Hospital up until January 2021; in hindsight, we used up a lot of energy as a family campaigning to visit Ammi more.
"We would have to ring up the hospital for updates on Ammi; the communication wasn't good."
Ammi had 17 operations at the Royal London Hospital, with some complications, including an infection in the brain, before he was transferred to the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in Putney, in January.
"When we arrived at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, we were informed for the first time about treatments Ammi had undertaken at the previous hospital; we were like 'hang on, we didn't know about this," Miriam said.
Ammi's family are incredibly grateful to the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability and Miriam has even set up a gofundme page to raise funds for it and as a memorial to her brother.
She said: "They are a charity-funded institution, and right from the get-go, we felt included in all the important decisions and discussions about Ammi’s wellbeing.
"We had daily Zoom calls on the days we weren’t able to visit him.
"Even towards the end when he became really unwell, they allowed us to come and stay at the hospital, 40 people, family and friends were allowed to come in, after taking lateral tests, to spend time with him before he passed."
Miriam continued: "The hospital staff would constantly ask us, what would Ammi have wanted? Even his clothes, they would dress him in his clothes.
"He used to douse himself in Paco Rabanne aftershave, and the nurses doused that onto him.
"They cleared his skin up after a rash had developed at the previous hospital.
"They combed his hair, cut his nails. After that, it was just Ammi again; that’s the only way I can describe it.
"It was a holistic approach to healthcare."
You can find out more about Ammi's story and donate to the gofundme page set up by his sister here.
