An 11-year-old boy died suddenly in front of his family just hours after a GP told him his sore throat was 'just a virus'.
A Mother's Unimaginable Ordeal
Frankie-Rae Law, from Braintree in Essex, first complained of a sore throat on Friday, November 14. His mother, Keleigh Law, 33, took him to a local doctor for reassurance. According to Keleigh, the GP diagnosed a simple viral infection, and they returned home thinking it was nothing serious.
Tragically, the situation deteriorated with shocking speed. In the early hours of Saturday, Frankie-Rae came into the living room where his mother was sitting, gasping for air and telling her he couldn't breathe. 'The absolute sheer horror on his face was insane,' Keleigh recalled. 'He is pacing up and down because he was so scared and within two minutes he went eerily silent.'
The Final, Desperate Hours
Alarmed by the sudden silence, Keleigh followed her son to the bathroom. 'He was slumped over the toilet, his lips were grey, his eyes were glazed over and I was shaking him to wake him up,' she said. Keleigh's mother arrived quickly and performed CPR for 30 minutes, managing to briefly revive him.
When paramedics arrived, they moved Frankie-Rae to the living room. Despite the efforts of eight paramedics, police, and a specialist heart team, they were unable to use a defibrillator because he had no heart rhythm. He was rushed to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, where doctors continued resuscitation attempts and performed an MRI scan.
A Family's Search for Answers
With no hope of recovery, doctors asked Keleigh if she wanted to be with her son as they turned off the ventilator. 'I sat with him, held his hand and kissed him while he passed away at 3.30am,' she said. Frankie-Rae's cause of death remains unknown, leaving his family devastated and searching for answers.
Keleigh described her son as her 'best friend' whose smile 'literally lit up a room'. The family has been overwhelmed by messages from people they didn't even know, illustrating how loved the 11-year-old was. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover funeral costs, and his school is creating a memorial area in his honour.
