The distraught family of an affectionate young boy, 5, are searching for answers after he died due to a cardiac arrest.
Lucuis Corry, from Belfast, who had Down Syndrome, was feeling sick when he arrived at Funtasia theme park in Drogheda, with his condition getting severe shortly after which died in hospital on August 7, 2022.
Joanne and John, his parents have spoke of their pain in their attempt to figure out what happened, BelfastLive reported.
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"He grew up into such a wee character. Lucuis didn't sleep too much, and would be up throughout the night. He loved watching his tablet and would hop up onto the sofa, watch Mr Tumble and chill out with a packet of (chocolate) buttons," said Joanne.
His father said that when people met his boy, he left an imprint on them with his charm and character.
"He just was such a loving and affectionate child," he said. "He would have given hugs and kisses to anybody. He was always running about wanting to dance with people, and saying hi to everybody he passed."
They recalled how Lucuis woke up that weekend, feeling less than himself, suffering from a sore stomach.
"He was a bit off colour and when we got there he was ok," they said.
After playing for a while he returned to his pram and after attempting to feed him, Lucuis began to vomit.
"I phoned the out of hours at around 6:15pm and I was phoned back after 10pm. I was told to just keep doing what I was doing, but all night he wasn't settling. He was on the floor, on the bed, he had a sleeping bag out for his daddy to sleep with him.
"We thought he was having a wee carry on and wanted a camp out. At around three in the morning we took him on a drive to see if he would sleep. He was throwing his blanket away and saying 'no'," his parents recalled.
After putting her shoes, Joanne noticed blood was running from her little boy's nose.
"He didn't bang his nose or anything. We brought him downstairs and his lips started to turn blue. John lifted him and he was responsive then. I drove out on two wheels, going through red lights while on the phone to the ambulance," she added.
By the time the car got Balls on the Falls, John said 'come on son we are going to Funky Monkeys' and Lucuis said 'yes daddy' and then he "took his last breath." Lucuis could not be resuscitated at the Royal Hospital Belfast.
"When we got to the Royal, he was unresponsive. I was beeping the horn and the doctor came straight out and was working on him for about 45 minutes. The consultant said they were doing everything they could, he went back in again to try again. But 15 minutes later, there was nothing," his parents said.
A coroner's report outlined that Lucuis suffered a cardiac arrest, however, they want more answers as to the cause.
They hope that an inquest into Lucuis' death, will bring them some closure.
"We want to get answers that we need," Joanne said.
"We want to know if he could have been saved. If he was seen earlier, could that have saved him? Maybe it wouldn't have, but we would just like some answers. The hospital was amazing with Lucuis, they done amazing.
"I just want to know why we couldn't have brought him to out of hours. We phoned them at 6pm on the Saturday, and we waited four hours for a call back. Lucuis died at 5am on Sunday morning," Joanne said.
People can contribute to the inquest fundraiser here.
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