Boy, 11, Dies Hours After Doctors Said His Sore Throat Was ‘Just a Virus’

A young boy died in front of his family just hours after being sent home from the doctors.

On Friday, Nov. 14, Frankie-Rae Law, 11, was at home in Braintree, England, when he started complaining about a sore throat. His mother, Keleigh Law, decided to take him to his local general practitioner. Doctors said it was “just a virus” and ultimately sent him back home, according to Southwest News Service, via The Sun.

However, just hours later, Keleigh, 33, said her son’s condition drastically declined. It was late at night, and Frankie-Rae was laughing and playing as usual when everything changed. Within minutes, he was struggling to breathe.

​​“He came to the living room gasping for air, and the absolute sheer horror on his face was insane,” she recalled.

“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 explained. “But then it got to 1:43 am, and he was gasping for air like he had something stuck in it. 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.”

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Keleigh said she quickly followed Frankie-Rae to the bathroom, and within a moment, he was unconscious.

“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. “My mum burst through the front door and started CPR on him for 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 arrived at the house, but they were unable to use the defibrillator on Frankie-Rae because he had no pulse or heartbeat. They took over chest compressions and rushed him to Broomfield Hospital.

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There, doctors told the family that Frankie-Rae had a “very thin” chance of survival, and if he did pull through, he’d likely have 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 told the outlet. “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.”

Keleigh said doctors “have no clue what was wrong with him” and she’s still waiting for answers. 

“I just want to be with my son,” she said. “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,” she added. “I have just never noticed how loved he was by so many people. His smile literally lit up a room.”