Tributes have been paid to a “kind-hearted” young girl who tragically died after suffering an asthma attack at school.
Pearl Unu-Arubi, who attended Rochester Grammar in Kent was taken to Kings College Hospital in London when she stopped breathing for eight minutes on March 20, 2023.
After spending 10 days in critical condition, the 12-year-old’s parents Weyimi and Paul were left devastated when their only child sadly passed away.
Now the family, from Rochester, has paid tribute to their “brilliant” daughter who had recently joined the grammar school as a Year 7 student and had hopes of becoming a lawyer to help others.
Weyimi said she had dropped Pearl off at school that morning and told her she would pick her up.
But a few hours later, the mum says she received an urgent phone call from her husband telling her to get to Rochester Grammar.
Weyimi said: “Pearl’s dad called me and said, ‘Rochester Grammar school said Pearl had a massive asthma attack.’
“[When I got to the school] I saw about two vehicles, I saw an ambulance van, another ambulance car. I saw teachers, I didn’t know where to go.
“I could see them all staring at me.
“I was asking, “where is she? Where is my daughter?”
A spokesperson for South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said:
“We were called to a medical incident at Rochester Grammar School shortly before 2pm on 20 March 2023.
“Ambulance crews attended and were joined at the scene by the air ambulance team which attended in a road vehicle.”
Weyimi says that Pearl was taken to Kings College Hospital where she spent 10 days in critical care - a place she says never wants to go to in her life.
Weyimi said: “It’s a place I never want to go to in my life. It was the hardest in the hospital.
“Till the day that she passed I just believed she would be fine, that she would come back.
“Even in the last few days when they told me she would be brain dead I’m like, ‘okay God, however she was to come back, I will take care of her because I love her so much.
“She was the best girl any mum and dad could have asked for.”
Rochester Grammar School says that a joint agency review is looking into Pearl’s death and will report in due course. She was diagnosed with asthma when she was six years old.
But while Pearl’s parents await the outcome, they continue to mourn their “kind-hearted, patient and loving” daughter.
Weyimi said: “She had a brilliant life. People would say it was because she was an only child, maybe that’s why. But we wanted to give her everything.
“Pearl was the most well-mannered human being, she always had a smile and she was always very kind.
“She liked art and she liked designing and she was just thinking of how she would merge them together.
“We have no words to express our feelings. Within the short time Pearl spent with us on earth, Pearl gave us so much love, and the memories that we have.”
A spokesperson for the Rochester Grammar School said: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of our much-loved friend and student.
“Pearl was a shining light in our school community and met everyone with great kindness and a smile.”
