A devastated mum has paid tribute to her 18-year-old son who died after an unexplained cardiac arrest.
Naomi Issit paid a heartbroken tribute to her son, Jamie Rees who she said was ‘always laughing and smiling’.
The 42-year-old mum was in Canada with her husband when her son Jamie had a heart attack, CoventryLive reported.
He had collapsed when out with friends in Rugby on New Year’s Day.
The student who was "loved by everyone", battled for his life at University Hospital Coventry in Walsgrave before passing away on January 5.
Jamie was a keen fisherman and close to completing the second year of his plumbing course at Rugby College.
He was planning to set up a plumbing business with two of his classmates.
Naomi said: "He was top of the class and passing everything. 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 and he loved to travel.
"He 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, 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."
Testament to his selflessness and unwavering desire to help others, Jamie signed up to the organ donor when he was just 16.
Naomi said him being an organ donor saved the life of a baby girl on the night of his death.
She added: "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."
Jamie, "a massive animal lover who always wanted to do right by the environment", is desperately missed by his many friends and his family, dad Gavin Rees and sister Myla, 8, included.
But his passing has been especially hard for his older brother Callum, 21, to comprehend.
"It's been difficult for his brother and sister," added 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.
"Because we haven't got a reason. I think it just makes it harder.
"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 even think about making a routine without him.
"This is one of the reasons we started the fundraiser because it just gives us something to do where we can think about good and do something for him still."
A campaign to raise funds for more defibrillators in Rugby smashed its initial target and has raised more than £6,770.
Jamie, who lived in Wolvey with his mum, had only a five per cent chance of survival, despite the best efforts of friends who bravely performed CPR.
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 added.
"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."
At present there are only 48 devices across Rugby, but some are inside buildings like schools which have set opening hours.
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 vandal-proof casing.
"If we get £10,000 that should mean we could get ten and then choose ten locations," Naomi said.
"I'm quite determined for them to be outdoor locations. We don't want them stuck in receptions in schools and things like that because that would not have helped Jamie at all.
"We've spoken to the college and they're happy to have one on their wall. We've spoken to the council about having one at Junction 1, but outside because obviously teenagers do hang around there a lot.
"And Rugby Free School. They've got one inside the building, but again we want one on the outside so it's accessible no matter what time.
"The council are open to any suggestions. We'll just keep going and get as many as we can."
She also thanked the “amazing” staff in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit that Naomi and the rest of Jamie's family were able to spend time with him before he died.
"Jamie had five 1-1 nurses at the hospital," Naomi said.
"They all came in on their day off the day before we lost Jamie, just to see him.
"We were told Jamie still had brain function up until the 4th of January 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."
A shrine of flowers, candles and heartfelt messages has been lovingly created on the small patch of green space in Oval Road where he suddenly took ill.
Jamie's funeral will be held at Rainsbrook Crematorium in Hillmorton on February 22.
The service is already at capacity with 120 family members and friends having confirmed their attendance.
Naomi said: "It's going to be a light-spirited funeral, not sadness. Jamie would hate the thought of everybody being sad.
"Everyone will be wearing black hoodies in honour of Jay because that's all he ever wore!
"It's not black as really sad or in mourning, it's purely because that is what Jay wore and would want everyone to be comfortable."
To donate to the fundraising appeal, visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ourjay .
