A 15-year-old “selfless” rugby star has unexpectedly died.
Joseph Gardiner was the captain of the Pyle RFC under-16 rugby team, located in Bridgend, South Wales
Adam Brooke, a family friend whose son was Gardiner’s best friend, told Sky News that the 15-year-old was “such a genuine, good kid, a nice kid.”
“He had his whole life ahead of him,” said Brooke.
After going to a doctor with “shortness of breath,” Gardiner was sent to a hospital with a viral infection and then suffered a heart attack. He later died.
Brooke has set up a GoFundMe to raise money for Gardiner’s family after Joseph’s death.
“The support’s been absolutely amazing,” Brooke said.
“The family, you know. It’s to give them, so they’re not going to have nothing to actually worry about now.
“They’re going to have enough to pay for his funeral, they’re going to have enough left over for a gravestone and there’d be enough left over then for a tribute or something to him.”
Joseph Gardiner, 15, was admitted to hospital after suffering from shortness of breath and later suffered a heart attack.https://t.co/4FZ2PY7YZd
— The Daily Record (@Daily_Record) August 3, 2023
Pyle RFC said in a tribute that Gardiner was a “great young rugby player in the making” and “an absolute credit to his family who loved him very much.”
“The good ones always get taken first. But he genuinely was one of the good ones, the most selfless kid you’d ever come across,” said Brooke. (RELATED: Drexel Basketball’s Terrence Butler Found Dead In Apartment)
“He never asked for nothing. He was just one of those kids, he genuinely was just happy with life.”