The 16-year-old boy’s mother, who is devastated, cannot believe her usually healthy son has passed away.
Her son passed away within days of what began as a sore throat.
A few days earlier, Rebecca Rollason discovered her son William unconscious in bed on Friday, June 14.
It had begun as a cough and sore throat.
William tragically died last month.GiveALittle
“As you can imagine we just don’t understand and cannot believe he is gone,” Rebecca told the Herald.
“It feels like the worst nightmare that we cannot wake from.”
At Upper Hutt College, William was a well-liked and gifted musician who had obtained his driver’s license just a few weeks after turning sixteen.
He was always in good health, but on Tuesday, June 11, he began to experience coughing and sore throat.
On Thursday, Rebecca contacted the doctor, who diagnosed William with the flu.
The doctor advised her to ensure William drinks plenty of fluids and suggested she call back on Friday if she remained concerned.
But alas, it was too late.
That morning, Rebecca went to see how her boy was doing and discovered him unconscious in bed.
“We just don’t understand how this can happen to a boy who was barely ever sick and was very healthy,” she said.
William seemed to have mild symptomsGetty Images
“We ask ourselves how what started as a sore throat, snotty nose and a cough on Tuesday to no longer with us three days later.”
“No one understands, we don’t know what happened. We have to wait for results.”
Rebecca claimed the entire family, friends, Upper Hutt College classmates, and the larger community were devastated by her son’s utterly unexpected death.
Relatives, old teachers, and other Upper Hutt residents came to his funeral one week later to bid him farewell.
“William was an amazing, talented and very bright kind boy who we love so very much,” she said.
“He was a talented musician and had his future all planned out.”
“It is an incredibly hard and devastating time for us.”
Rebecca’s friend created a Givealittle page to assist with funeral expenses and to ease the financial burden so that Rebecca and William’s two brothers could take their time grieving.
“I have set up this page to help Rebecca and her 2 remaining sons with funeral costs and to alleviate financial burden during this grieving period.
“It is every parent’s worst nightmare and a shocking tragedy to lose a healthy child from a sudden and brief illness,” a description to the fundraiser said.
An investigation into the teenager’s death is underway.
