Scotland goalkeeper Shannon Lynn has told how she suffered with depression after the ’love of her life’ died suddenly.

In 2008, her girlfriend, Sarah, contracted meningococcal meningitis at just 22 and was put into a coma. She later died after her life support machine was turned off.

Lynn, 34, told BBC Sport: "The last thing I see is her having a seizure, the doctors cutting off her jeans, and then the door shutting in front of me. That's the last time I saw her moving. I was standing there like ‘what the hell’.

"It was 2am and her parents were probably only half an hour away from arriving. The doctor took me into a quiet room and said 'Sarah's really, really sick and if she does survive there's a 99% chance she'll be a vegetable.' 

"I just broke down. Then, when her parents arrived, I had to tell them. And the whole time I thought it was my fault. I should've known, we should've brought her sooner. I still struggle to this day thinking I could have done more."

Lynn said Sarah’s death sent her into a ’turmoil with depression’.

"I did not go into the bedroom ever. I slept on the couch and I drank vodka. Somehow I was coaching, I was running and I was throwing up, and I was drinking more vodka and, somehow, I was going about like a robot.

"I was in total turmoil with depression. I didn't know what to do."

Lynn has now found love again with her partner, Sandra, but she still has struggles with her mental health.

She said her advice to others suffering with the same is ’don't be ashamed to be honest about how you are really feeling’.