A Current Affair Host Ally Langon reduced to tears during heartwrenching interview with Cath Groom’s sister
Current Affair host Ally Langdon has broken down in tears during a heartbreaking interview with the sister of a woman who tragically died while waiting for an ambulance.
Cath Groom, 51, called emergency services just before 10.30pm on Friday after experiencing chest pains and was deemed urgent, meaning an ambulance should have arrived at her Brisbane home within 15 minutes.
Despite numerous calls to 000, an ‘exhausted’ Mrs Groom waited 90 minutes before canceling the request and deciding to go to sleep, hoping her symptoms would subside.
The next morning, Mrs Groom’s son, Nicholas, 18, made the horrific discovery that she had died in bed.
On Wednesday evening, Langdon spoke with Ms. Groom’s sister, Bec McQuilty, who described the 24-hour nightmare they went from watching Nicholas graduate from high school to finding her dead.
The host broke down as Ms McQuilty described how her sister was found by her only child on her 52nd birthday.
“I just think this hurts all of us when we hear this,” Langdon said as he struggled through tears.
Mrs McQuilty explained how she ran to her sister’s house on Saturday morning after receiving a disturbing phone call from Nicholas.
“That scene will undoubtedly haunt you for a long time,” Langdon said.
“To be honest, I think it’s something Nicholas and I will never forget,” Mrs. McQuilty replied.
Cath Groom (pictured right with sister Bec McQuilty), 51, died this weekend after waiting for an ambulance that never arrived
Ms McQuilty said she struggled to come to terms with what had happened.
‘It’s just incomprehensible. “I’m numb, I’m sad, I’m devastated,” she said
Ms. McQuilty explained that Nicholas was left shattered after graduating from high school on Friday.
“He’s gone from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in 24 hours,” she said
‘He has learned all his life that you can rely on these people and that it is a blatant neglect to call 000 and they are not there for him when they should have been there.’
Mrs McQuilty said the “hardest thing” was seeing how death had affected their mother, who was taken to the emergency department in “complete shock” on Saturday.
“She’ll never come back from this,” Mrs. McQuilty said.
“No family should ever have to go through what our family went through.”
Fighting back tears again, Langdon asked Ms McQuilty how she could reconcile the fact that an ambulance never arrived.
“You don’t,” Mrs. McQuilty replied.
“There’s no excuse, there’s no reason for it.”
Mrs McQuilty said she was struggling to come to terms with her sister’s tragic death
Host Ally Langdon was reduced to tears while interviewing Ms. McQuilty on Wednesday night
On Tuesday evening, Langdon spoke to a senior minister and health official about the shocking incident.
Langdon branded the “avoidable tragedy” a “shame” in a tense interview with Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and Queensland Ambulance Service Commissioner Craig Emery.
“What happened is unacceptable and that Cath Groom is no longer with us and her son is no longer a mother is a shame,” she said.
Ms McQuilty said it gave her no comfort that the minister and commissioner had expressed their condolences to the family.
“It’s just not good enough,” she said.
Mrs Groom had raised her son Nicholas as a single mother after losing her husband 18 years ago
Mrs Groom raised her son alone after her husband also tragically passed away 18 years ago – just a month after their son was born.
Her friends and family paid tribute on social media to an “amazing and genuine woman taken far too soon.”
“Rest in peace sister, may you now rest peacefully with Dad and the love and husband of your life,” Ms Groom’s sister wrote on Facebook.
“Cath, you are an amazing mother, wife and friend. Heaven is a better place to have you,” one friend wrote.
Queensland Ambulance Services (QAS) is investigating how cases like Ms Groom’s fell below the priority line despite the urgency of their requests.