RAF nurse who died of tuberculosis honoured

An RAF nurse who died from tuberculosis (TB) after a delayed diagnosis has been honoured in a service at a national military memorial.

Flt Sgt Carrianne Franks, from Tuxford in Nottinghamshire, became infected while assisting hospital medics during the Covid-19 pandemic and died in August 2021, aged 30.

On Monday, her parents Beverley and Chris Franks attended a service at the National Memorial Arboretum where their daughter's name was engraved on a wall alongside others who have died in service since World War Two.

They said it was a "poignant" but "bittersweet" day.

The service, in Alrewas, Staffordshire, was held a day before the three-year anniversary of Ms Franks's burial.

Ms Franks worked as a nurse at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London between 23 and 24 November 2020, but was not told she had been exposed to an aggressive form of TB, a coroner later found.

When she became seriously ill in June 2021, she was first diagnosed with Covid and then pneumonia, before she died in August.

It was not until the day before she died it was established Ms Franks had TB, her parents said.

In a prevention of future deaths report, coroner Laurinda Bower said the "lack of knowledge of her heightened risk of TB" contributed to her death.

Speaking of the memorial service, Ms Franks's mother, Beverley, said: "It's bittersweet really.

"I'm so proud that her name is among all these other beautiful names that mean so much.

"It's a really proud moment but she was only 30 and you also feel like she shouldn't be on there."

Mr Franks added his daughter "loved the armed forces" and described her illness and end of her life as the "battle" she unfortunately lost.

"All the way through she was dedicated," he said.

Ms Franks's name joined more than 16,000 other names inscribed on the stonework at the arboretum, which is home to more than 400 memorials.

The wall has become a place Mr and Mrs Franks said they could visit "where we've got that common link with people who know what you're going through".

"She's never out of our thoughts," Mr Franks added.

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