Brain swelling from use of steroid caused boy’s death

A fit, sports-mad teenager died from severe brain-swelling triggered by the muscle-building steroid, Stenozolol, an inquest has found.

Assistant state pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster, said the only finding of note, following an autopsy on the body of Luke O’Brien-May, 17, was the presence of traces of Stanozolol and that a rare side-effect of taking the drug was brain swelling.

Luke’s parents, Brid and Denis, through their legal representative, Liam Carroll, junior counsel, said while they accept Luke had been taking the steroid, they said they failed to see the concrete link between its use and his eventual decline.