Dad diagnosed with life-threatening condition after losing consciousness while driving his daughter home from school

A dad is raising awareness of a life-threatening condition he was diagnosed with after losing consciousness whilst driving his daughter home from school.

Johannes Mashavave, 55, from Middleton, began losing consciousness at the wheel whilst driving his six-year-old daughter, Grace, home in 2022.

The dad of two said: “I was due to pick Grace up from primary school at 3pm and had gone for what I thought would be a quick nap around 1pm, as I felt quite tired.

“I slept through my alarms until 5pm and had more than 20 missed calls from my wife, Odion, and the school. On getting out of bed I still felt drowsy.

“When I arrived at the school, Grace noticed something was off, she said that I was limping, looked confused and that I wasn’t talking properly. Obviously, at the time I thought there was nothing wrong with me, so we got into the car and headed home.

“Around 500 metres from my house was when I took a turn. A passer-by noticed the car revving unusually, came over and saw that I was unresponsive. They immediately rang for the emergency services.”

Following the terrifying incident, Johannes was rushed to Salford Royal Infirmary, where he was placed in an induced coma in critical care. Four days later, he was transferred to The Royal Liverpool University Hospital as blood tests showed he needed specialist care.

There Johannes, who works as part of the security team at The Trafford Centre, was diagnosed with Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP), a rare blood condition, only six in every million people per year.

TTP causes blood clots to form in small blood vessels throughout the body, stopping blood flow to vital organs and triggering a medical emergency.

Patients with TTP experience symptoms including fever, fatigue, headaches,