Chesapeake, Va. (WTKR) - A Chesapeake family is remembering their teenage son who died after collapsing at Hickory High School last week.
Michael White, 14, was at soccer conditioning after school Thursday when his dad says he started feeling ill.
"He said he didn’t feel good and they were walking him back for his inhaler and he fell out and I guess his heart stopped then," Steve White said.
As they prepared to say goodbye, White's dad, Steve, and sister, Monica, sat down with NewsChannel 3's Todd Corillo to remember Michael.
"Laughter. Witty. He’s so funny. Like he can make a whole room laugh, it just came natural. Natural funniness," Monica commented.
"He was confident in himself. He was happy with himself. He loved his family. Every time we got off the phone he’d say 'Love you,'" Steve said.
They remembered Michael as a boy who was always surrounded by friends, did well in school and who was kind to everyone.
"He would pick the kid that was probably the worst pick for basketball or whatever sport they were playing in gym because he didn’t want to leave him out," Steve explained.
Steve White believes a lifelong peanut allergy may be to blame for his son's death.
"I think that he thought he wasn’t allergic anymore because he was so big and tough but I think that’s what it was," he said.
As she sat with her younger brother at the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughter, Monica White says she prayed constantly.
"Touched his hand. Kissed his hand. 'Come on bud. You’ll be alright bud. You’ll be alright,'" she recalls.
When he slipped away Friday, his parents made the decision to donate White's organs and give the gift of life.
"The only sense that could come from this is to answer the dreams – I mean someone is sitting out there, some parent is sitting out there, praying and crying and wishing that their child could have life given back to them," Steve White said.
Michael White will be laid to rest in Chesapeake on Wednesday.
