A woman tragically died aged just 23 after doctors were said to have failed to spot the signs of a silent killer.
Katie McPherson was described as a happy student, following in the footsteps of her mum Jane to become an occupational therapist.
But her family’s life came screeching to a halt just over two decades ago, on January 26, 2003, when Katie suddenly died of a blood clot that doctors had told her was not a problem.
Her own GP had insisted she was fine, less than two weeks before she died.
Doctors at two separate hospitals failed to spot the silent killer, and instead she was sent home with painkillers.
Gordon, Katie’s dad, and Jane, were left reeling after their only daughter died from the blood clot in her leg.
In the years since, Gordon has been trying to make sense of his daughter’s “perfectly avoidable” death.
He has campaigned for change and asked: "Why are we still allowing people to die when these deaths are perfectly avoidable?”, The Scottish Daily Express reported.
After her death, Jane and Gordon began to campaign to improve awareness and support around blood clots, and conditions like deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PT) and venous thromboembolism (VTE).
Jane has since taken more of a backseat. She said: "I support Gordon in everything he does but I can't do it anymore. It's like reliving Katie's death - I was with her when she died.
"I want every single person to be aware of DVT. We now have a little granddaughter who is nine.
“Our son is absolutely adamant she is going to be tested to see if she's carrying the faulty gene.
"If she is, then the doctors are going to be informed. It's so preventable, it's a complete waste of life.
“Katie was happy. She was in her wee flat in Edinburgh, she was at Queen Margaret [University] and had a wee cat with her.
"She was absolutely, perfectly happy. And it shouldn't have happened."
Their daughter's room in the family home in Langbank, Renfrewshire, still carries memories of her, such as her cuddly toys, and the proud grandparents have no plans of changing that.
"We have to keep her alive in ourselves because otherwise I don't think we'd be able to cope," Jane said.
She added: "We are 20 years down the line. It's easier. However, the trauma and anguish does not go away.
"Our granddaughter is so funny because she'll say, 'Granny, can I go to Aunty Katie's bedroom because I want to play with her cuddly toys'. I keep saying to her, 'You don't have to ask darling. Just go into Aunty Katie's bedroom'. And every time she does she looks at her picture on the wall and says, 'Hi Aunty Katie'. Obviously she never met her."
But Gordon is still fully involved in the campaign, he said: "Trying to get the Scottish Government to listen, to accept this is happening all over the world, it is happening here, seems to be the hardest part.
"I keep approaching all of the health ministers in Scotland and actually thought I'd have a breakthrough with the new one, Michael Matheson. He is an occupational therapist, Jane was one too and Katie was training to be one.
"Michael Matheson qualified from the Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh and Katie was a student there. I explained this all to him but received the usual blank.
"The Scottish Government say they spoke about it in 2011 so there's no need to talk about it anymore. It just seems to be an accepted fact that X amount of people are going to die and a certain percentage will survive and that's it."
Despite the setbacks, Gordon is as adamant as ever to "keep at it".
His latest petition is due to be considered by Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee next month while he has also requested some of Scotland's most iconic landmarks such as the Kelpies and Edinburgh Castle be lit in blue and red on October 13 to mark World Thrombosis Day.
He claimed 11,400 people per year succumb to conditions related to blood clots and thrombosis in Scotland every year - around one in every four deaths.
"Katie is gone. I can't do anything about it. So why am I doing this? I know the hell it will put our family through and I know for a fact it will affect an awful lot of other families.
"But I'd much rather I wasn't involved in this and Katie was still here. But hey ho, we've just got to make do with what we've got,” he said.
