Ballerina, aged just 17, dies after suffering blood clot ‘triggered by contraceptive’
A BALLERINA has died aged just 17 after suffering a blood clot on the brain - feared to have been triggered by the contraceptive pill.
Tragic Maria Santa, 17, was stricken by headaches so severe she complained her head was “about to explode”.
But despite four visits to health facilities she was sent home before being found unconscious by her boyfriend in their Manchester flat.
The young Romanian, a scholarship student at the prestigious Royal Northern Ballet, was taken to Salford Royal Hospital, but never regained consciousness and died two days later.
At an inquest doctors claimed Maria's death may have been caused by her taking the pill with one expert claiming it was only the third case of its type he had seen in nine years.
The teenager originally from Cluj-Napoca in Romania had been performing ballet since she was just nine and last year won a scholarship to the £12,648 a year school in Manchester.
She enrolled in September and her parents followed her to the city, but she began to suffer headaches the following month and visited Middleton walk-in centre, in Greater Manchester, three times.
The hearing at Heywood, Manchester, was told on November 11 she was taken to North Manchester General Hospital, after her condition had deteriorated but was discharged the following morning even though she was struggling to walk and talk.
Her boyfriend Matias Castlecano, found her unconscious at their home just hours later.
Miss Santa's father, Robert Santa said: "Maria loved dancing and she would help everyone, she loved everyone. She was so friendly.
"She had complained of feeling unwell and I could see she was unwell too. She complained of right ear pain and headache. If she got home from school she was lying in bed and she wasn't eating much.”
He told how her first visit to a walk-in centre was on October 21 when her daughter was given paracetamol.
On her second visit on October 29 he said it was thought Santa had an ear infection.
By early November, wracked by severe pain, she had begun vomiting every hour without eating or drinking and was prescribed tablets to stop her being sick.
Robert went on: "On November 11 Maria complained that it felt like her head was going to explode, that she couldn't feel her right leg and that it felt like it was moving on its own. We called the emergency services and they sent an ambulance.
“She was seen by the same doctor, the first time he came she could speak then when he came back and asked where the headache was she couldn't speak, she showed him where it was hurting."
But Maria was prescribed some antibiotics and discharged from hospital.
Robert added: "The doctor told us not to worry because she was tired. She didn't speak any more, and she needed help with everything. Later that morning Maria's boyfriend rung saying that she was now in a coma.''
She was found dead hours later.
Pathologist Dr Piyali Pal said Maria had suffered from blood clots in the brain and added: ''Causes could be dehydration, malnutrition, blood clotting disorders or somebody who had taken oral contraception pills. There was no underlying pathological cause.
Dr Jonathan Greenbaum, who treated Maria at Salford Royal said: "This is a very rare condition. It is a very difficult diagnosis to make because it's so rare and the symptoms can be non-specific.
“Millions of women take the pill and the risk is very low but if you take the pill then your risk is slightly increased. The absolute risk is tiny, it's just unfortunate and bad luck.
Medical expert Dr Paul Wallman said: "I've been a consultant for 13 years and have never seen this diagnosis diagnosed in the emergency department.
“Clearly there is a raft of lessons to be learned here.
“It's a very very sad case, I'm sorry. Hearing what we have heard today, I think that there are a number or red flags, she should have stayed in hospital.''
Recording a conclusion of death by natural causes, coroner Simon Nelson, told Maria's family: "She had the whole world ahead of her and some tremendous prospects.
''The images illustrated how beautiful she was. I hope you will treasure very many positive memories of how wonderful of a daughter and sister she was. Sadly, her own supreme level of fitness disguised how really unwell she was during the final days of her life."
And that of Sophie Murray, 16, who died on holiday along with 21-year-old teaching assistant Fallan Kurek who passed away after taking the pill for just 25 days.