A young Scottish man has died suddenly after he fell ill at a day centre near Edinburgh last week.
Tributes have poured in for Shaun Paul Shirkie after the 20-year-old tragically passed away in hospital last Wednesday.
Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at a young age, Shaun had been at the Cherry Road Centre in Midlothian, a group for disabled adults, when he became unwell.
Despite being rushed to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Shaun later passed away on Saturday, surrounded by his adoring family.
Describing her grandson as "gorgeous", Margaret Shirkie paid tribute to Shaun, and shared her hopes of spreading awareness of his condition.
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Speaking to the Record, she said:"Shaun passed away with all his family round him. It was very peaceful.
"He looked absolutely gorgeous as he always did.
"Mine and Shaun's favourite song was 'Hello' by Lionel Richie. After he died, I went down to the sanctuary in the Royal where there's a tree that you can put wee messages on.
"I put my hand into the basket and pulled out what I thought was a blank but it had 'hello' written on it.
"I know he was there with me and I think he knew we were all there with him.
"That's very comforting to me."
The Saltersgate School pupil's sudden death is said to have devastated staff at his former school in Dalkeith.
Shaun was diagnosed with DMD - a severe, progressive, muscle-wasting disease that leads to difficulties with movement and premature death - when he was six weeks old.
This meant it had taken Shaun longer than normal to start walking, which he began at five years old and started to use a wheelchair aged seven.
As he got older he was diagnosed with scoliosis of the spine and eventually had to be propped up by cushions in his wheelchair.
Margaret continued: "Shaun's uncle Darren had muscular dystrophy. His mum was tested and it came back that she was carrier but when she was pregnant with Shaun she didn't take any further tests.
"I'm grateful that she didn't because we got a really, really good boy.
"When Shaun was born, they took blood from him and six weeks later, two doctors came to his other granny's house and we got the news that he had the condition.
"All I can remember is the doctors using the word 'unfortunate'. That was hard.
"It took him longer than normal to walk, but when he did walk, he couldn't walk that far.
"The determination in the boy was just unbelievable. He loved his food and even though his muscles were wasting away, he'd put his hand on something and put his head down to grab it.
"If there was a way, he would find that way.
"He never moaned about his condition but he didn't know the extent of it or what was going to happen.
"Nothing fazed him."
In 2014, Shaun's health took a turn for the worse when he was admitted to Western General Hospital with pneumonia, septicaemia and pseudomonas.
Although he recovered, Shaun was fitted with a feeding tube which was a 'huge' blow for him as he loved eating.
Margaret added: "He started to struggle once he had the feeding tube inserted and his condition deteriorated because his muscles were wasting away even more.
"He'd went all that time since without being ill, though he did get to the stage where he was eating very little.
"He was also on the waiting list for a tracheotomy. We didn't want that because he would've needed 24 hour care but it was going to make life better for him."
Shaun and his gran met Edinburgh musician Callum Beattie at a gig in Melville Castle Hotel last year.
The pair secured front row tickets and after meeting him backstage, Shaun asked the 'Salamander Street' chanter if he would perform at his 21st birthday party which was due to take place in April.
Sadly, Shaun did not live to see this milestone event.
Remembering Shaun in a Facebook post yesterday, Callum Beattie wrote: "I wouldn’t normally do this, but he was such a very special young man.
"Please help his family with anything you can afford, to give him a truly magnificent send off.
"He was such a wee star."
A GoFundMe page has now been set up to help Shaun's family with funeral costs and other expenses.
So far, it has reached an incredible £2,425 of the £2,500 goal.
If you would like to donate to Shaun's fundraiser, click here.
