Jamie became an organ donor when he was just 16 - on the night he died, he helped save the life of a baby girl
THE mother of an 18-year-old who died after a cardiac arrest has said he was “loved by everyone” in a touching tribute.
Naomi Issit was in Canada with her husband when she was told her youngest son, Jamie Rees, was fighting for his life back in England.
She received a call from doctors after Jamie had collapsed while out with friends in Rugby on New Year’s Day, suffering an unexplained cardiac arrest.
In less than 24 hours, Naomi and her husband rushed back to the UK to be with Jamie, who died in hospital on January 5.
Naomi, from Wolvey, has revealed that Jamie, who had agreed to be an organ donor, helped others after his death, including a baby girl who whose life was saved on the night he died.
Now she is determined to help fund new defibrillators to help save the lives of others.
Naomi, 42, said it was thanks to the “amazing staff” at the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit at the University Hospital Coventry that she and the rest of Jamie’s family were able to spend time with him before he died.
“Jamie had five one-to-one nurses at the hospital,” Naomi said.
“They all came in on their day off the day before we lost Jamie, just to see him.
“Considering Jamie never opened his eyes again, they treated him like he was their son.
“They let us sleep in the bed with him. They let his family come in and out whenever they wanted.
“We were allowed to sit with him all night and talk to him. I honestly don’t know how anybody ever copes if they don’t get to spend that time.
“We were told Jamie still had brain function up until January 4, which in our minds makes us feel like he could hear us and feel us touching him, holding his hand and sleeping in the bed next to him.”
Jamie, known affectionately as Jay, had taken ill in Oval Road, Rugby, where a shrine of flowers, candles and written tributes were left on a small patch of green space in his memory.
The 18-year-old was a keen fisherman who was close to finishing his second year of a plumbing course at college and had plans to set up his own business with two classmates.
“He was top of the class and passing everything,” Naomi said.
“They’ve left his practical plumbing on the wall and are going to leave it there in memory to him.
“He was just a lovely boy. So determined. He loved to travel and had massive intentions of going to lots of places.
“He loved his friends and family. He was always happy. You never see a picture where he’s not smiling and laughing.
“He was shy and very quiet, but, as his tutor said, whenever he did speak everyone else was quiet because it was always funny or relevant.
“He was just a genuinely lovely lad. I’m sure every mum says that,
MOTHER’S TRIBUTE TO TEENAGE SON WHO DIED AFTER CARDIAC ARREST
He was just so bright in everything he did and such a massive part in what everybody did. Jamie’s mum, Naomi
but he really was. The amount of messages and what people have said about him is proof of that. Everyone just loved him, so much.”
A DESIRE TO HELP OTHERS
Jamie had signed up to be an organ donor when he was just 16 – something that he cared deeply about and was a testament to his desire to help others.
“It was a big thing to him which is why we put a post on social media outlining who benefited from his organs,” Naomi said.
“One of the recipients of part of his liver was a baby girl and it actually saved her life on the night he died.
“That would mean absolutely everything to Jay. Some light out of total darkness, absolutely.”
The 18-year-old, who was “a massive animal lover who always wanted to do right by the environment”, is desperately missed by his many friends and his family, including dad Gavin Rees, older brother Callum, 21, and little sister Myla, eight.
“It’s been very difficult for his brother and sister,” said Naomi, a charity manager. “Callum very much so. He was very close to Callum.
“They used to go places together. They did a driving experience together in November so Callum is glad they managed to do things like
that together. Callum went to New York with him as well. They’ve got lovely memories, but, yes, he misses him really badly.
“And so does Myla. She’s obviously struggling because she’s so much younger and doesn’t understand why.
“He was just so bright in everything he did and such a massive part in what everybody did.
“He was the centre of the family and we miss him so much.
“His room is exactly as it was and it will stay exactly as it was. His car is on the drive, like it always will be.
“We don’t even know how to function without him any more. He was just the absolute base of our whole routine. It’s just trying to think about making a routine without him.
“Because we haven’t got a reason. I think it just makes it harder.”
JAMIE’S LEGACY
Jamie’s family have now started an online fund-raiser for more defibrillators in Rugby - something practical family can do in his memory.
Their campaign, which started with a target of £1,500, had hit £7,388 by last week.
Every £1,000 raised will mean another defibrillator can be bought and situated in public places.
Despite the best efforts of his friends who performed CPR on Jamie the night he collapsed, he only had a 5 per cent chance of survival.
His chances would have jumped to around 75 per cent had a defibrillator been nearby and available to use within nine minutes of his collapse.
“It tells its own story really,” Naomi said.
“We’re just shocked it’s taken something like this before these things get dotted around. It could save so many lives.
“You hear about these things happening at a sports game. But actually, for each one happening at a sports game, there’s probably another 100 that happen to people just carrying on in their everyday lives, like Jay was.
“He wasn’t doing anything sporty at the time. He was just out with his friends, having a laugh and just didn’t stand a chance without a defibrillator.”
There are 48 defibrillators across Rugby, some of which are inside buildings, such as schools.
Thanks to discounts arranged by the charity Sands and another foundation that has contacted her, Naomi hopes each device would cost in the region of £1,000 for the defibrillator, backboard and vandalproof casing.
“If we get £10,000 that should mean we could get 10 and then choose 10 locations,” Naomi said.
Jamie’s funeral will be held at Rainsbrook Crematorium in Hillmorton, near Rugby, on Tuesday, February 22.
Naomi said: “It’s going to be a light-spirited funeral, not sadness. Jamie would hate the thought of everybody being sad.”
In honour of Jay, as he was known, friends and family will sport a black hoody, an item of clothing he favoured.
To donate to the fundraising appeal, visit: