AN inquest heard how a two-year-old died from a rare complication of a common respiratory infection.

The family of Teegan Mai Pennell told how they ‘begged’ doctors to do something to help the toddler who turned blue and stopped breathing three times before suffering a fatal cardiac arrest on October 24 2014.

Family members paid an emotional tribute the ‘lovely’ little girl and called for lessons to be learned from her death.

Teegan’s mum, Courtney Wilson, from Burnley, said: “Our family has been devastated by the loss of our lovely, cheeky, bossy little girl.

“We were told nothing could have been done to prevent her death and lessons would be learned from it.

“We were shocked to learn that, after an internal investigation, there had been a number of failings by the hospital.

“Clearly her death could and should have been prevented, we hope lessons are learnt so no family is in the same position as us.”

Teegan’s grandfather, Charles Wilson said, following a number if incident, the family ‘begged’ for the doctor to intubate her.

He said: “I came in to take over from my daughter, Teegan had been begging me for a cuddle since I got there and a couple of hours later I was allowed to hold her.

“I hadn’t had her in my arms for half a minute when she went limp and stopped breathing.

“Courtney and Adam came back at 7am and begged for her to be transferred to Manchester children’s hospital but the doctor said they could provide the same leve of care at Blackburn.

"No one was taking her condition seriously."

Teegan had been admitted to Burnley General Hospital on October 23 2014, along with her brother Dylan and cousin Jayden, with croup like symptoms.

All three were treated with steroids and the boys sent home, however Teegan, who was not responding to the treatment, was transferred to Blackburn Royal Hospital where she received further treatment and appeared to be improving.

She was then transferred to the high dependency unit after going into respiratory arrest, after which she received further treatment and appeared to recover.

The inquest heard she then suffered further breathing problems. She turned blue and stopped breathing three times before suffering a cardiac arrest.

Pathologist Dr Melanie Newbould gave the initial cause of death as cardiac arrest caused by an acute respiratory infection.

Coroner Simon Jones invited consultant paediatric intensivist Dr Stephen Playfor to provide an independent review of the care and treatment Teegan received.

He said Teegan had died as a result of an obstruction of her central airway, caused by the respiratory virus human metapneumovirus.

He said the obstruction was a ‘rare complication’ of the virus, which had only been discovered in 2001.

Dr Playfor said that Teegan would have made a full recovery if doctors had inserted a breathing tube into the toddler – a procedure known as interbation.

But he said he did not believe any paediatrician in the country would have done this because of the risks involved for young patients. The inquest continues on Thursday.