A mum-of-five has died following an asthma attack at her home. Joanne Lanaghan passed away despite desperate attempts by her family to save her. She was only 35.

Her mother, Steph Duckett, a district and parish councillor for Barlby, said her daughter had phoned her to say she was having an attack and asked her to collect the children so she could go to hospital.

“We got there in about four or five minutes, and her daughter was still on the phone to the ambulance switchboard.

“Then we heard her scream ‘mum’s fallen on the floor’.”

Coun Duckett, who had trained with the St John Ambulance, immediately performed CPR until paramedics arrived, but her daughter died.

Joanne had five children, Ashley, 16, Scott, 13, Jason, 12, Zoe, 11, and Maria, six.

Coun Duckett said her daughter’s chronic asthma was so serious they had “drilled” emergency procedures.

She said: “Jason unlocked the front door; Zoe called an ambulance and grabbed Joanne’s medication.

“The coroner said she had suffered from a pneumothorax (collapsed lung), so we couldn’t have saved her, but one fact that has helped me is that I was able to try to do something.” Coun Duckett and her husband, David, have met social services, and said they were confident they would be allowed to raise their grandchildren.

Joanne had two sisters, Julie, 31, and Janette, 35, who said: “We’re really going to miss her.

“We didn’t always see eye to eye, but she was still our big sister and we always knew we loved each other.”

Coun Duckett, who has given up her job in Savers in Selby to look after the children, said Julie was expecting twin girls on June 7. “We have 12 grandchildren already, and we always try to keep them close, which will work well, because there will be more support for Joanne’s children.

“The day before she died she spent the afternoon at our house. It was one of those days where everything just fell into place. They all had a wonderful time and I’m really grateful for that.

“When the children think back to that day, they’ll remember her laughing and happy.”

Joanne will be cremated at a private ceremony on Thursday, led by her former Barlby High School headmaster, the Rev Francis Loftus, of St Mary’s Church, Hemingbrough.

Donations in her memory can be made to Selby Daisy Chain, the anti-domestic violence charity, the NSPCC and the bereavement services at York Hospital.