A BADMINTON star who competed in the Special Olympics died during a sterilisation procedure — which she had asked for.

Bianca Atherton’s heart stopped beating for 20 minutes during the operation, which she decided to have because of her learning disability and the fear her children would inherit her chromosome abnormality.

The 27-year-old from Horwich, who won a silver medal at the 2013 Special Olympics in Bath, died as doctors carried out the surgery at the Royal Bolton Hospital on April 16 this year.

An inquest into her death at Bolton Coroner’s Court yesterday heard how staff tried in vain to save her life after she suffered a rare fatal reaction to the sterilisation procedure.

Her mother Catherine Atherton told the inquest: “The primary cause of her wanting to be sterilised was because she would not be able to look after the children herself.

“As a family we are devastated by the loss of our beautiful daughter, sister and granddaughter who made us laugh, smile and feel proud of her.”

The inquest heard Miss Atherton needed one-to-one learning support as a child but still went on to achieve great things.

She volunteered as a support worker at her former Clarence Street College and competed for Team GB at last year’s Special Olympics.

The badminton player met her long-term boyfriend in 2009 and was “adamant” she wanted to be sterilised, the court heard.

She talked to her mother about the procedure, who set up an appointment her GP. She was then referred to the Royal Bolton Hospital and booked in for the operation on April 16.

But Miss Atherton’s mother was not allowed to stay with her daughter before the operation, the inquest.

In a statement read to the court, Mrs Atherton said: “When I got in the car I was concerned about Bianca and phoned one of my friends, who is a nurse. She reassured me that the staff were well trained so I came home.

“At about 4pm Bianca phoned me. She sounded fine but a bit bored.”

But at 10pm that day, the hospital contacted Miss Atherton’s mum and her step-dad Paul to say their daughter had suffered a reaction to the sterilisation.

Kehinde Akintola Abidogun, the consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist carrying out the procedure with another registrar, said Miss Atherton’s heart rate dropped dramatically as he started an abdominal insufflation — a method of inflating the abdomen with gas using a needle.

Mr Abidogan said Miss Atherton started to have vasovagal response — a reaction by the body’s nervous system causing the heart rate to slow down.

He said the reaction was a common side-effect but added: “It is extremely rare for a patient to die during this procedure.”

Miss Atherton’s body failed to respond to preventative drugs and she went into cardiac arrest. She died the same night.

Mrs Atherton said: “We were told to phone all of our family but sadly our beautiful daughter died before they arrived with her dad and I in the room.”

Mrs Atherton questioned experts at the inquest to see if there was a link between her daughter’s chromosomal anomaly and her history of fainting when in pain.

But a clinical geneticist ruled out any link between her chromosome disorder and her death.

A pathologist gave the cause of death as acute left ventricular failure.

Senior coroner Jennifer Leeming recorded a narrative verdict.

She added: “I was very impressed with the evidence we have heard about Bianca.

“She was someone with great common sense who knew very well how to express herself when she was waiting for the procedure without her mother.

“She came across as a charming, intelligent and thoughtful person.”