A Scots coach driver has suddenly died from a heart attack after falling unwell on-shift.
James Cowan, also known as Jim, from Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire, had just finished his school run for Abbey Coaches before he returned to the depot on Friday, June 16. The 57-year-old began feeling unwell and after returning home, his health deteriorated.
After falling over, not breathing and turning blue, his wife, Sharon, 54, battled to save him by performing CPR until medics turned up. But sadly, he could not be saved.
His grieving daughter, Hayley, told Glasgow Live: "When he came back to bed, my mum said he shuffled up beside her to sit up. He just looked at her and his arms flew up in the air and he fell right back.
"He wasn’t breathing and went blue. My mum phoned the ambulance and had to perform CPR on him for 15 minutes until paramedics got there - they worked on him for between two to three hours but he wasn’t coming back. My mum phoned me in hysterics screaming down the phone. I was in a total state of shock.
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"It was so unexpected because he was healthy and quite young, I couldn’t believe what mum was saying to me. When they said he passed I was distraught and heartbroken. I felt as if my whole world came crumbling down right on top of me. Everyone is just heartbroken."
Jim, a grandad-of-seven, was born and raised in Rutherglen before moving to East Kilbride around 16 years ago.
Paying tribute to her dad, who has been remembered as the 'life and soul of the party', Hayley added: "He was the fun one out of everybody, he was the life and soul of the party. He was always making jokes. He’d make jokes while singing and you just knew he was there.
"To us he was the greatest person in the world. You couldn’t get any better His loss has had a massive impact on the family. He was the one everybody went to if they needed advice or to rant about anything.
"A part of me is missing now, there’s a massive hole in my heart.. His death has destroyed us all."
Jim's eldest son, Chris Farnon, 35, lives in Sydney, Australia. The family have now launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for a flight home after his dad's sudden death so he can be with his loved ones.
"It would mean everything to get him home.", Hayley said.
Support the fundraising appeal here.
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