Boy, 11, told he ‘just had a virus’ before dying in front of family hours later

An 11-year-old died just hours after a doctor told him his sore throat was ‘just a virus’.

Frankie-Rae Law complained that his throat hurt on Friday November 14, so his mum, Keleigh Law, took him to a local GP.

According to Keleigh, the doctor said it was ‘just a virus’ and they returned to their home in Braintree, Essex.

But hours later he came into the living room where his mum was sitting, ‘gasping for air’, saying he couldn’t breath.

Keleigh, 33, followed him to the bathroom, where she found him slumped over the toilet, his lips grey and his eyes glazed over.

Despite efforts by her mum, paramedics and doctors to save him, Frankie-Rae died in the early hours of Saturday.

His family still don’t know what caused his death.

Recalling the moment she saw her son struggling to breath, Keleigh said: ‘He came to the living room gasping for air and the absolute sheer horror on his face was insane.

‘He told me ‘I can’t breathe’. He is pacing up and down because he was so scared and within two minutes he went eerily silent.

‘I followed him to where he was because it was so silent.

‘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.’

Keleigh said her mum arrived soon after and spent 30 minutes carrying out CPR on him.

‘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.’

Keleigh said that minutes before her son fell unconscious he had been laughing and playing like normal.

‘He was still awake at 1.40am I was in the living room just on my phone and he was coming in, messing around and joking with me again,’ she explained.

‘But then it got to 1.43 and he was gasping for air like he had something stuck in (his throat).’

When they arrived, paramedics moved him to the living room where they put defibrillator pads pads on him – but in the end were unable to use them because he had no heart rhythm, Keleigh said.

‘They kept pumping his chest – there were eight paramedics, police, the hearts team.

‘They said there was a pulse there but there was no heart rhythm.’

The heart team told Keleigh that his chance of survival was ‘very thin’ and that if he survives he will have brain damage.

After being taken to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford doctors continuedattempts to get a heart rhythm, before carrying out an MRI.

‘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 3.30am in the early hours of Saturday.’

The devastated mum-of-two said she hopes someone will be able to tell her soon what happened to Frankie-Rae, but currently doctors ‘have no clue what was wrong with him’.

She added: ‘I just want to be with my son. I feel like I failed him. He was my best friend.

‘He was such a lovable child and since he’s passed I’ve got numerous messages from people I don’t even know.

‘I have just never noticed how loved he was by so many people. His smile literally lit up a room.’

The family have started a GoFundMe page to help with funeral costs.

‘We are trying to get everything he deserves for his last walk,’ Kayleigh said.

‘In school they have been amazing and they are doing a little memorial area for him.

‘There’s over 40 bunches of flowers, teddies and cards given by schools.