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A brave mother whose son was found unconscious in a gym shower has spoken of her heartbreak.
Perth bodybuilder Giuliano Pirone’s family today called for a coronial inquest, just weeks after the 33-year-old’s life support was switched off.
“His life should not have ended this way. No way, no way,” mother Daniela Pirone sobbed.
“I can’t contemplate life without him.”
Giuliano was training at Culture Fitness 24/7 in Wanneroo for a bodybuilding competition last month.
The 33-year-old completed a quick pre-work session before he collapsed in the gym’s bathroom.
He was found in a cubicle shower, where he lay unconscious for 15 hours without anyone noticing.
“I have a shower now and I think of my son, under that shower for 15 hours, cold water running on him and I was just home cooking and if I knew I could’ve done something – I didn’t know anything,” Daniela said.
He never regained consciousness and an MRI confirmed he’d lost brain function.
After two weeks, his family made the devastating decision to switch off his life support, leaving behind his three-year-old daughter.
“He was low in insulin but lacked the oxygen in his brain, so he must’ve had a seizure,” Daniela said.
Culture Fitness has staff available for certain periods of the day but it isn’t a legal requirement to have employees at the facility 24/7.
The gym today extended its thoughts and prayers to Guiliano’s family.
“As a 24-hour gym facility, we remain committed to maintaining a safe, secure and accessible environment for all our members,” a spokesperson said.
The family is calling for change so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
They want a check-in, check-out system that alerts staff if a patron hasn’t left the gym after a number of hours.
Premier Roger Cook backed calls for an inquiry.
“He entered a facility, where you would expect a duty of care to be carried out,” Cook said.
Daniela said a doctor told her if Giuliano had been found two or three hours earlier the “outcome was completely different”.
“He would have been ok,” she said.
