Boy, 11, Dies Hours After Doctors Said His Sore Throat Was ‘Just a Virus’ and Sent Him Home: ‘Sheer Horror’

A family in Braintree, England, is grieving the sudden loss of 11-year-old Frankie-Rae Law, who died just hours after being told by doctors that he was likely suffering from “just a virus.”

On Friday, Nov. 14, Frankie-Rae began complaining of a sore throat at home. Concerned, his mother, 33-year-old Keleigh Law, took him to their local general practitioner, where she says doctors reassured them it was a viral illness and sent him home, according to Southwest News Service via The Sun.

That night, Keleigh says her son seemed to be in good spirits. He was awake late, laughing and joking around the house as usual — until his condition suddenly changed.

“He was still awake at 1:40 a.m. I was in the living room just on my phone and he was coming in, messing around and joking with me again,” she recalled. “But then it got to 1:43 a.m., and he was gasping for air like he had something stuck in it. He told me, ‘I can’t breathe.’ He was pacing up and down because he was so scared, and within two minutes, he went eerily silent.”

A moment later, she said, he came into the living room “gasping for air,” with a look of “absolute sheer horror” on his face.

Keleigh followed him to the bathroom, where she found him collapsing.

“He was in the bathroom, slumped over the toilet, his lips were grey, his eyes were glazed over and I was shaking him to wake him up,” she said. Her mother rushed into the house and began CPR, continuing chest compressions for around 30 minutes. “She got him back for a couple of seconds, where his lips went pink and he’d opened his eyes and a bit of spit came out. But then he had gone again.”

Paramedics soon arrived but were unable to use a defibrillator because Frankie-Rae had no pulse. They took over resuscitation efforts and transported him to Broomfield Hospital.

There, doctors told the family his chances of survival were extremely slim and warned that, even if he survived, he would likely suffer brain damage.

“Doctors told me there is nothing there and asked if I wanted to sit and hold his hand while they turned the ventilator off,” Keleigh said. “I sat with him, held his hand and kissed him while he passed away at 3:30 a.m. in the early hours of Saturday.”

She says doctors still do not know what caused his sudden collapse and death, and she is waiting for answers.

“I just want to be with my son,” she said. “I feel like I failed him. He was my best friend.”

Remembering Frankie-Rae, Keleigh described him as warm, funny, and deeply loved. “He was such a lovable child and, since he’s passed, I’ve got numerous messages from people I don’t even know,” she said. “I have just never noticed how loved he was by so many people. His smile literally lit up a room.”