Asthma sufferer Hope Carnevali drew her last laboured breath in her family's arms waiting for an ambulance on her front lawn.
The 20-year-old law student was one of two people who died in Melbourne's western suburbs on Monday in what is believed to be a mass incident of "thunderstorm asthma".
More News Videos
- Video duration
- 01:36
Hospitals deal with 'thunderstorm asthma'
- Video duration
- 01:25
Sickening cruelty revealed at Victorian slaughterhouse
- Video duration
- 01:12
Police shoot kangaroo near child
- Video duration
- 00:44
Teachers to face tougher tests
- Video duration
- 02:30
High school student struck with deadly disease
- Video duration
- 00:23
Three die on Victorian roads
- Video duration
- 00:23
Teen charged over Melbourne airport radio hacks
Hospitals deal with 'thunderstorm asthma'
Sunshine Hospital was overwhelmed with respiratory patients on Monday, after more than 1900 people called Ambulance Victoria in what is believed to have been a mass incident of 'thunderstorm asthma'.
The ambulance arrived more than 30 minutes after it was called.
"Just knowing that if they had of gotten there a little bit earlier, the situation might be different is very hard to deal with," Hope's aunt Melissa Carnevali told Seven News.
Her family now wish they had driven her to hospital.
"Maybe they can let you know how long they might be, just an idea so they can maybe take them to hospital and maybe save some lives," her uncle John Carnevali said.
Hope has been remembered as a "beautiful soul" and an "angel" by her grief-stricken family and friends.
"She was just kind-hearted - everyone loved her," Mr Carnevali said.
Friend Michelle Anne Haber said she couldn't believe the tragedy had occurred.
"Even though we weren't as close as we got older, I still remember the memories we shared as kids," she wrote on Facebook.
"My heart breaks for your whole family, you had been through so much and always managed to have a smile on your face. I will never forget you."
Another friend, Cris Cutsick Astudillo, said it never failed to surprise him how life could be taken away in the blink of an eye.
"You may not be with us but the memories you've left behind, with countless people who's lives you've brightened, will remain a gift that can't be taken awaym" he wrote on Facebook.
A gofundme page has been set up to raise money for Hope's funeral.
News has also broken of the death of a second person, 18-year-old Greenvale high school student Omar Moujalled, who died at a doctor's surgery on Monday evening following a major asthma attack.
Just a few days before Omar had completed his last Year 12 exam, a French test.
His family and school community at the Australian International Academy in Coburg have been left devastated and the Year 12 graduation scheduled for Wednesday has been cancelled.
As the storm hit Melbourne shortly before 6pm on Monday, causing particles of pollen that are normally too big to enter the airways to explode, bouts of asthma were triggered in hundreds of people, many of whom had never suffered asthma before.
Manaia McElhaney stopped breathing twice.
Around 2pm, as temperatures soared into the high 30s, Mr McElhaney started feeling a bit "wheezy" and decided to go to his GP.
"He prescribed me some pills to clear the airways," he said. "Then I got home and found I couldn't breathe. My cousin had to call the ambulance for me."
He was one of more than 1900 people who called Ambulance Victoria.
"As soon as they got there, they gave me adrenaline shots and chucked me on to the nebuliser," Mr McElhaney said. "I was really scared. Didn't know what was going to happen."
As the ambulance raced towards Western Health in Footscray, Mr McElhaney's heart rate dropped below 30 beats a minute, far below the normal 90-beats-a-minute resting rate for most adults.
"I felt I was drowning," he said. As paramedics gave him extra adrenaline shots to keep his heart beating, the frightened young man blacked out, only to be revived in intensive care.
Chris Dowal, the bewildered father of 10 year-old Jaxon, said he had never heard of "thunderstorm asthma" before rushing his son to hospital on Monday night.
"My son's never even had asthma before, none of us have," Mr Dowal said.
Aside from some mild hay fever, Jaxon went to bed on Monday feeling well. But shortly after, he woke up struggling to breathe. Then he started vomiting.
"It was almost like he was hyperventilating," recalls Mr Dowal.
"We were stressed. It was like a struggling, panting breath ... and he seemed to be taking more breaths than he should be taking."
Mr Dowal said there were no beds available at Sunshine Hospital and the waiting room was filled with people using Ventolin spacers and puffers when they arrived.
They were not alone. Hospitals across Victoria were left reeling and emergency services battled to respond to more than 1900 calls for help, with more than 600 of the calls involving respiratory illness.