Charity walk in memory of nurse who died of TB

Chris and Beverley Franks, pictured with Carrianne, want to raise awareness of TB

Family and friends have raised £7,000 by walking 33km (20.5 miles) in memory of an RAF nurse to mark her 33rd birthday.

Flt Sgt Carrianne Franks’ parents organised the walk to raise awareness of tuberculosis (TB), which she died from in August 2021.

An inquest found a delay in diagnosing the disease contributed to her death.

Her father, Chris Franks, wants to prevent other people dying as a result of the symptoms being missed.

A total of 27 people took part in the fundraising walk, held on Saturday to mark what would have been Ms Franks’ 33rd birthday on Thursday.

They walked along an old railway line from Fledborough in Nottinghamshire to Doddington in Lincolnshire, and also to Ms Franks’ grave.

Money raised will be split between the RAF Benevolent Fund, which Ms Franks had raised money for herself, and the tuberculosis charity TB Alert.

“The walk was obviously very sad but it all went well and we remembered her,” Mr Franks said

“A lot of Carrianne’s friends came up from Brize Norton and we had one come up from Dorset.”

Ms Franks, who was from Tuxford in Nottinghamshire, became seriously ill in June 2021.

She was initially misdiagnosed with Covid, and then pneumonia, and died in intensive care at Bassetlaw District Hospital in August 2021.

Shortly before she died it was discovered she had been exposed to a “very aggressive” form of TB while working as a nurse at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London in November 2020.

Mr Franks said his daughter’s life could have been saved with a simple course of antibiotics, as her strain of TB was not drug-resistant.

Mr Franks said: “People still tend of think of TB as a Victorian disease, but it’s not.

“There are thousands of cases a year diagnosed in the UK. Doctors need to recognise the signs and symptoms.”

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