A heartbroken mum has paid tribute to her ‘beautiful boy’ after he passed away aged just 14.
Ben Horton, from Edgeley, Stockport, was found ‘unconscious’ in his bed with his ‘lips and fingertips blue’ on January 9, according to his mum Zoe Thompson. He was rushed to hospital where he was put on life support for two days, but sadly never recovered. On Saturday night (January 11), the decision was made to switch his life support off.
Zoe has now issued a heartfelt tribute to her ‘angel’, saying she ‘couldn’t have asked for a better son’ and asking the community to pull together to give him ‘the best send off he deserves’.
“I really did not think I would be writing something like this,” she shared on a GoFundMe set up to support the family. “On the 9th Jan at 7.10am we went to wake Ben up for school and found him unconscious, his lips and finger tips was blue.
“We rang 999 then I had to start CPR which you do not ever expect to be doing on your 14-year-old son. Ambulance and police arrived quickly to help Ben and we were transported to Manchester Royal Children’s Hospital. Ben was very critical and put on life support.
“He was very unstable, the doctors and nurses did many scans, bloods and many more tests to find that the oxygen had been cut from Ben’s brains for a while which caused his brain to swell and damaged some brains cells.
“Doctors said Ben had a 50/50 chance of pulling though. Ben wasn’t reacting to lights and his eyes was fixed and the life support was doing all the work for him.
“After battling for two long days and nights Ben still wasn’t reacting, he sadly didn’t pull through. Ben tried your hardest but today Saturday 11/01/2025 his life support will be turned off at 12pm.”
Zoe added she was ‘totally heartbroken’ and she would ‘always remember’ her son’s last words.
“Please remember I love you beautiful boy,” she wrote. “Ben you are my angel and I couldn’t have asked for a better son you was my world.
“Let’s pull together as a community and give Ben the best send off he deserves. Fly high beautiful boy.”
Tributes have poured in for the young boy on a Facebook post shared by the Sir Robert Peel hotel, who are collecting donations to support the family.
“I remember coming to a Stockport Academy awards evening and Ben lifted my spirits with his smile singing on the stage,” Bryan Potts-Hargreaves wrote. “He was a beautiful soul for all to see. Much love and thoughts to this lovely boys family.”
“Ben was such a lovely, polite, caring boy, he always had a smile on his face, my heart goes out to his family at this devastating time, thinking of you all and sending so much love,” Sophie Stevens added.
You can donate to the GoFundMe here.