PARAMEDICS battled in vain to save a young father after he collapsed in his car suffering an asthma attack.

Chris Gibson, 24, was minutes away from hospital, but died despite a roadside effort to save his life.

Passing motorists stopped to help and a radiographer tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him.

Paramedics managed to get his heart going, but he suffered internal bleeding and died later in hospital.

Mr Gibson's family have revealed that he will go on helping others after his death as his organs - including his kidneys, liver and pancreas - were donated to help transplant patients.

His partner, Paula Hanson, said he was devoted to his three-year-old son, Josh, from a previous relationship.

Ms Hanson, of Lazenby, Teesside, said: "They loved each other to bits. The highlight of his week was having Josh visit us every weekend. They would go to the fields near our home with a bag of apples and feed the horses together."

Mr Gibson, who gave away his sister, Melanie, at her wedding 12 weeks ago, was diagnosed with asthma when he was ten.

He complained of having a bad chest, but his inhaler did not ease the pain.

Ms Hanson was driving him to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, to be examined and was minutes away when he collapsed.

She said: "We have been told it is unusual for a chronic asthma sufferer to die from an attack because they are more aware of a change in the symptoms.

"But, because Chris was a mild sufferer, he didn't know it was something serious."