Glasgow mum who lost Rangers-supporting teen daughter to asthma attack thanks public for backing ‘Lauren’s Law’ campaign

Former Rangers stars attended a celebration held in Lauren Reid’s memory outside Ibrox Stadium on Sunday
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

A Scots mum insists her Rangers-supporting daughter is “back where she belongs” after laying a memory slab outside the family stand at Ibrox stadium in her honour.

Elaine Cunningham, from Dennistoun, lost her daughter Lauren Reid to an asthma attack while at work at Gin71 in Glasgow last year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 19-year-old, who was a season ticket holder at Ibrox, didn’t have her inhaler with her and paramedics were unable to prevent her from slipping into cardiac arrest.

Elaine was forced to make the tragic decision to switch off Lauren’s life-support machine.

She decided to launch her own campaign for the non-prescribed storage of life-saving salbutamol inhalers in commercial kitchens.

The petition has already surpassed 100,000 signatures which will now see her case debated before MP’s at Westminster.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Explaining how ‘Lauren’s Law’ was formed, Elaine said: “It just started as a simple idea in my head.

“Somebody said to me ‘what does Lauren’s Law actually mean’ and I just thought about what might have happened if she did have her inhaler there with her.

“My daughter was a bit of a tearaway at school. The only subject they liked her in was Home Economics, so she walked out of school at 16 into her apprenticeship and she actually passed to become a chef a year and a half early.

“She was a fully-qualified chef by 19 because she hammered into the work so much.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I launched this campaign, when ends on October 13 and the last time I checked we were at roughly 102,000 signatures.

“I did a quick video to thank people for their support which really has been amazing and helped me through my grief.

“I have taken a wee step back from social media for a couple of weeks just to give myself a break from it because I’ve thrown myself into this and it has been quite tough mentally.

Former Rangers stars Gordon Durie and Marvin Andrews attended a celebration prior to the Light Blues match against Hibernian on Sunday as family members and friends gathered together to release balloons and lay flowers next to Lauren’s memory stone.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Elaine added: “Lauren had her season ticket seat here her whole life with her best friend.

“We’ve now got the memory slab which reads: ‘LAUREN REID. RANGERS. ALWAYS & FOREVER’, so I now feel she’s back home where she belongs.

“It was a lovely moment. Everyone from all over Tik Tok and Facebook came to join us, and we had a few ex-Rangers players turn out as well which just made it for us.

“I’ve always been a passionate Rangers fan and I started taking Lauren to games when she was three-years-old.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“She was into watching old footage of Rangers games, films etc. She wasn’t a child that would play with toys.

“I’ve got a memory bench out the back with a plaque and a beautiful picture of her. It’s from when she was seven, she’s got her wee Rangers top on, a cowboy hat and is holding a Nacho Novo flag.

“Fernando Ricksen was one my heroes and when he passed away after battling MND, Lauren and I went to our local shop and got orange lilies and took them to Ibrox. That was our last game together.”

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.