A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl died in her mother's arms after suffering a massive asthma attack.

As Sarah Smyth desperately gasped for air she told her mother: "Mummy, I can't do it any more."

Sarah was diagnosed with asthma when she was seven months old. She made regular visits to hospital and was overcoming the condition.

But she was struck down with a sudden attack at home and died before emergency services could get to her.

The youngster had been off school for a week with a chest infection.

Her mother had been controlling her condition with the help of steroids, inhalers and a nebuliser - a machine used to get medicine quickly to the lungs.

But she awoke in the early hours of the morning wheezing uncontrollably.

Her mother, Linda Beresford, 41, who lives in Washington, Wearside, said: "She was sat on the sofa for about 20 minutes. I phoned the hospital to let them know we were coming in.

"It was a bad attack. She was really struggling for breath. Then Sarah took off her nebuliser and said 'Mummy, I can't do it any more'. She just went in my arms."

Sarah was rushed to Sunderland's Royal Hospital but doctors were unable to save her.

Her father, Peter, 39, who is separated from his wife, was too distressed to speak about the death.

Despite her asthma, Sarah enjoyed PE and had learned to swim with fellow pupils, at Donwell Primary School, who were shocked at the loss.

She was a late addition to the family and was adored by her brothers, Shaun, 18, Dean 22, and Christopher, 23.

The family had even acquired a dog, Molly, which did not aggravate animal-lover Sarah's asthma.

Her mother said the whole family was struggling to cope with her death.

She said: "She was such a little battler.

"She loved life. In her short seven years she lived it to the full. She wasn't wrapped in cotton wool, she wouldn't let you do that.