A young woman from Nottingham tragically died on Boxing Day 2014, after her renal condition went untreated.

Danielle Stretton was 24 years old when her kidneys reached a critical condition, causing her premature death. Her health problems first developed in 2008 when she became lethargic and weak but the cause of her complaints were not identified.

In 2009, her condition was discovered when Danielle, who was pregnant at the time, was hospitalised at the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) with chronic stomach pains. Sadly, Danielle suffered a miscarriage, which led medical staff at the QMC to first become aware of her acute kidney failure.

Despite this, Danielle was discharged from hospital with staff at the QMC failing to act or discuss her kidney problems with her or her family.

After her time in hospital, Danielle’s health continued to deteriorate to the extent that she was forced to move back home to be looked after by her mother. Doctors initially suggested that her symptoms of vomiting and sickness was the result of an eating disorder. A blood test confirmed that Danielle had kidney disease.

Danielle was told that her kidneys were at ‘end stage failure’ – also known as stage five – and she had an emergency blood transfusion to stabilise her condition.

Her mother, Ruth Braddock, said: “Doctors said they could not believe Danielle was still alive when she had the transfusion. She then immediately had a course of dialysis, which was really tough on her.”

An emergency kidney transplant was carried out in October of 2010, which took a serious toll on Danielle. Initially, she showed signs of rejecting the new kidney.

It was after the transplant that Ruth contacted Thompsons Solicitors to begin a medical negligence claim on Danielle’s behalf.

Thompsons demanded that Danielle’s medical notes were reviewed, which subsequently found her kidney disease had been ‘missed’ by the QMC.

Thompsons’ medical experts concluded that there was a lapse in duty of care at the QMC in August 2009, despite her kidney failure being noted as the cause of her miscarriage on her medical notes.

Thompsons went on to secure £30,000 of compensation for Danielle on the grounds that her condition should have been treated when it was first discovered by the QMC in 2009.

Ruth said: “After Thompsons secured compensation for my daughter last year, she was just starting to look to the future after what had an extremely traumatic and unstable time. She used the compensation to find a new flat, furnish it and make a new start for herself.

“But at Christmastime she began feeling sick again, so on Christmas Day we took her home and said we’d see her again on Boxing Day hoping she’d be feeling better. The events that followed were unthinkable - the next day she wasn’t answering her phone so we went to the flat and had to break down the door. Danielle was just lying on the floor by her bed.

“It is beyond horrific. We cannot imagine our lives without our beautiful girl in it – we are utterly devastated by what has happened.”

Sadly, Danielle passed away just 24 years old.

Sharon Banga, clinical negligence solicitor at Thompsons Solicitors, said: “It is so tragic that Danielle lost her life at such a young age, and so difficult for the family to come to terms with what has happened.

“Danielle should never have been discharged from hospital in 2009 without further investigations into her renal problems. Medical practitioners have a duty of care for their patients, and Danielle’s condition should not have been missed or ignored.”

Danielle’s mother Ruth is now setting up a charity in her daughter’s name for young people with kidney failure.

Ruth said: “We realised early on in Danielle’s illness that there were simply no services for young people with kidney failure. It is a disease predominantly associated with older people but it can affect anyone.

“We’ve called the charity Danielle’s Flutterbyes, as she was absolutely fanatical about butterflies. The charity will look to help people aged 16-30 with renal disease – we want to achieve something positive in memory of our beautiful little girl.”