Bedside vigil as Scots hero Smeaton fights asthma attack
Family called to hospital after condition of baggage handler deteriorated
Published:
The family and fiancee of Glasgow Airport car bomb hero John Smeaton were at his hospital bedside yesterday as he battled for survival.
The former baggage handler was stable in intensive care after an asthma attack.
A source said the family were called to the hospital at 5am yesterday after his condition deteriorated, but it later stabilised.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the Smeaton family to offer his support.
Mr Smeaton, 32, shot to fame after attempting to foil the Glasgow Airport attack last June and was taken ill just as the two men accused of the incident went on trial.
His fiancee, Christy Mac-Phedran, 32, flew in from New York on Saturday and headed straight to his bedside at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
She said: “I got the first flight I could. I’m worried sick about my John.”
The couple are planning to set up home in the US.
Mr Smeaton was reportedly watching TV with his parents when he collapsed.
His father Iain said: “John was struggling to get a breath. It was terrifying to watch. He’s never had an attack this serious before.”
Mr Smeaton was admitted to hospital on Thursday and officials there said yesterday he was stable.
The former baggage handler has written regularly about his poor health in a national newspaper column.
Sources said a similar asthma attack a decade ago almost killed him.
Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Mohammed Asha, 28, went on trial at Woolwich Crown Court in London on Thursday accused of attempting to murder hundreds of people with car bombs in London and Glasgow.
Mr Smeaton is in the hospital where Abdulla was working as a junior house officer in general surgery at the time of the airport attack. The former airport worker, who recently revealed he was quitting Scotland for a new life in the US, became an overnight celebrity.
His efforts to foil the attack, followed by comments in a TV interview broadcast afterwards around the globe, catapulted him to fame.
Describing his feelings immediately after the incident, he famously said: “This is Glasgow, you know – we’ll set about you.”
Now known by his nickname of Smeato, he has been feted from London to New York.
He was congratulated publicly by the prime minister at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth last year.
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