A family in Oregon is mourning the loss of “bright and cheerful” 8 year-old Amari King Churchwell, who suddenly passed last Tuesday after falling ill at school the previous day.
“His aspirations were just huge,” said his father, Kenneth Churchwell, when describing his son’s ‘larger than life’ persona to FOX12. His parents told local reporters that Amari’s ‘smile and positive energy could change the atmosphere of any room he’d enter.’
Last Monday, the school called Amari’s parents to report that he’d gotten sick and needed to be picked up. It was shortly after Kenneth had brought his son home that things quickly deteriorated.
While Kenneth was helping his son get changed when he suddenly felt his son collapse in his arms.
“His head just kind of fell back and his eyes rolled back, and then I knew right away something was wrong,” Kenneth told Fox12.
Immediately, he rushed Amari to the hospital, where doctors discovered a mass near his brain stem that had begun internally bleeding, causing his brain to swell. Doctors inserted a drain in his brain to reduce pressure on his brain and then transferred him to Doernbecher’s children’s hospital. But by then, Amari could not be saved.
“No signs of headaches, no signs of illness, nothing,” Dawn, Amari’s mother, told local reporters. “They said no surgery could bring him back.”
Amari’s parents told local reporters that their son had always dreamed of growing up to become a doctor, specifically to help children.
“He just always would say that- ‘I’m going to help a lot of people,'” Kenneth told Fox12.
Donations to the Churchwell’s GoFundMe campaign will go towards Amari’s passing, including medical expenses and funeral costs. As of publication, the campaign has raised over $51,000 out of its $40,000 goal.
