![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_210825harrisonangellchapman_05.jpg\")
Harrison Angell-Chapman, 12, beaming with pride on the morning of his first day at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman(Image: Sarah Angell)<\/p>\nHarrison Angell-Chapman, a much-loved member of his local community, died suddenly. His mother Sarah has remembered him in a touching tribute to tell those who didn\u2019t have the fortune of meeting him what a wonderful boy he was<\/p>\n
10:38, 31 Oct 2025Updated 10:48, 31 Oct 2025<\/p>\n
Harrison Angell-Chapman, 12, beaming with pride on the morning of his first day at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman(Image: Sarah Angell)<\/p>\n
The family of a much-loved boy from Wales have paid tribute to him after he died suddenly days after saying: “I think it’s my heart mummy.” Harrison Angell-Chapman died aged just 12 years old on May 6 last year after suffering a cardiac arrest at the family home in Betws near Ammanford, Carmarthenshire<\/a>, leaving his family and the whole community devastated.<\/p>\n A popular member of the school<\/a> community at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, his friends and teachers celebrated him with balloons and his favourite basketball on the day of his funeral at the Chapel of Rest at Bwtrimawr, Betws.<\/p>\n Harrison\u2019s mother Sarah Angell said Harrison, known fondly as Harry, to her knowledge had no underlying health conditions and had never been seriously ill. \u201cHe had a severe viral infection in the weeks before but he hadn\u2019t otherwise been ill,\u201d Sarah remembered.<\/p>\n \u201cThe heart isn\u2019t something you think about at that age is it? We thought we\u2019d be better safe than sorry and so we booked an appointment but Harry said he\u2019d improved then so we cancelled that appointment. I was a GP\u2019s receptionist myself and I knew how precious appointments were.<\/p>\n \u201cBut on the Friday morning he suddenly said: \u2018I think it\u2019s my heart mummy.\u2019 He wasn\u2019t right that bank holiday weekend but he wasn\u2019t too bad either. He wasn\u2019t playing his games as he usually would but he was lying on the sofa with a hot water bottle on his shoulder and I remember he came with me to Tesco and he seemed okay.<\/p>\n \u201cHe talked about how he was going to go back to school on the Tuesday after the bank holiday but then about half an hour before he collapsed he said: \u2018I don\u2019t think I can.\u2019 I said \u2018okay\u2019 and I was making arrangements for the following day for him to be with his gran because I needed to go to work.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was upstairs in the bathroom and he just screamed: \u2018Mummy, I\u2019m dizzy.\u2019 And as I opened the bathroom door he collapsed to the floor. His eyes had sort of rolled and he wasn\u2019t responsive. He did come around but when we got him to the hospital we found out how serious it was.\u201d<\/p>\n At Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen<\/a> Harrison was found to have an extremely high heart rate and a high blood pressure and was taken to an operating theatre to receive induction gas when he began coughing and went into cardiac arrest. CPR was administered on Harrison for eight to nine minutes, which revived him, but he later experienced a second cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n He passed away at 9.53pm that evening. A post-mortem examination resulted in a provisional medical cause of death for Harrison as myocarditis – inflammation of the heart muscle – and respiratory tract infection, something very rare for a person of his age.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was nothing they could have really done at that stage,\u201d Sarah recalled. \u201cThey tried. They tried so hard. They kept me with him the whole time, and his dad. They allowed me to be with him right until the end of his life. They were amazing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they were taking him into theatre Harry kept pulling his oxygen mask down and saying to the doctors: \u2018Thank you for helping me.\u2019 That was the sort of boy he was. He was such a gentleman. We didn\u2019t know he was dying at the time and I really hope he didn’t either, but to have a 12-year-old boy thanking the medics like that just breaks my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarah said she can\u2019t thank enough the people who looked after her son at the hospital and who continue to help them. She said: \u201cThe people at Glangwili are continuing to be amazing.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are regularly monitoring and testing Harry\u2019s sister to make sure she is fine and her heart is healthy. His sister has been unbelievable. She is so determined and resilient and she hasn\u2019t stopped revising for her GCSEs. She\u2019s incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n Paying tribute to her boy she said he was Pokemon and gaming mad and loved basketball, cherry blossom trees and Christmas<\/a>. She now has two cherry blossom trees in the garden in a remembrance area for him.<\/p>\n Sarah said: \u201cThe whole community here has been really hit with shock by the loss of Harry. I think they\u2019re also shocked and afraid for their own kids.<\/p>\n \u201cHarry was the best. He was insecure in many ways and yet he was so popular. His friends made him the centre of attention. He was prom king in year six prom to celebrate leaving primary school and he couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n \u201cHis group of friends which he had from nursery were inseparable and they\u2019ve all found it very hard. They took their own money and went to the garage after school and got this little bunch of flowers and turned up on the doorstep here with them. They\u2019re a beautiful bunch of kids.<\/p>\n \u201cHarry hadn\u2019t been at comp very long and yet he was a well-liked person there. His teachers, who wouldn\u2019t have known him very long, signed the condolences book with such lovely messages. Many of them start along the same lines about Harry being such a happy boy with an infectious smile, which is absolutely right. He always wanted to make people smile.<\/p>\n \u201cI know every mother thinks their boy is special but Harrison was a truly wonderful person. He had a lovely 12 years but he should have had so much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_210825harrisonangellchapman.jpg\")
‘Little gentleman’ Harrison died in hospital last year following a sudden cardiac arrest which had been put down to muscle pain(Image: Sarah Angell)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_210825harrisonangellchapman_04.jpg\")
Sarah with her late son Harrison(Image: Sarah Angell)<\/p>\n![\"Another](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_210825harrisonangellchapman_02.jpg\")
Harrison was a popular member of his school community and, perhaps untypically for a boy of his age, loved cherry blossom trees(Image: Sarah Angell)<\/p>\n