'Love you until my last breath': Mom of Ace Field, 8, vows to bring son's body home after leukemia death
PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND: The grief-stricken mother of an eight-year-old British boy who died in Barbados after being diagnosed with leukemia has vowed to bring his body home to the UK.
Ace Field was enjoying the New Year holiday with his mother Amber Field in Barbados on Tuesday, January 3, when he was rushed to the local hospital with suspected meningitis after developing a rash. The doctors ran some tests and revealed the child had deadly acute myeloid leukemia. His family, from Portsmouth, immediately scrambled to raise funds to get him on a medical flight home last Friday. But little Ace’s condition deteriorated before the flight. He suffered a seizure, causing a catastrophic bleed in the brain. He never regained consciousness and was put into an induced coma before being declared brain dead.
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On Saturday, January 14, his mother announced that the brave schoolboy died in the hospital after his life support was turned off by the medics. "Ace is now resting,” Field wrote on Facebook. “There is no footprint too small to leave an imprint in this world.” She also noted that their family is now only determined to bring Ace home and give him the farewell he deserved. “Goodnight Acey Pops, today nature took its course, you are my whole existence and I will love and remember you until my last breath, give nanny Pat a big cuddle from me & let’s get you home my darling baby,” she wrote.
The heart-wrenching news of Ace’s demise came after his family's legal battle against the Barbados government for the right to remove his life support. Field and her estranged husband, David, both made the tough decision to switch off his life support on Thursday, January 12 after doctors revealed Ace had zero chances of recovery. But the hospital administrators allegedly stepped in at the last minute and stopped doctors from turning off the ventilators.
Reflecting on the administrators’ decision, Ace’s family alleged the policymakers were just delaying the inevitable and dragging out their grieving process. His aunt Emma Wearn recently told Daily Mail, "The only way I can describe it is a living nightmare," Wearn said. "It's hard to speak about it all without crying, it's been such a horrendous time."
More than a dozen friends and family members had rushed to Barbados to say their goodbyes last week when Amber was told there was no chance Ace would recover. Previously, they had been told it could be weeks until Ace passed away. "His heartbeat is still strong because he has a healthy heart and the machine. But all that it means is that it will take longer to pass on his own," his aunt explained. "We want them to let him rest." The family has described the legal loopholes as cruel and evil, and unfair to both Ace and his family.
The devastating death of the 8-year-old has sent shockwaves across the close-knit town. Locals and totals strangers came together and paid tribute to the little fighter by donating their prized possessions - from boxing gloves worn by Anthony Joshua to an England top signed by Michael Owen. A public GoFundMe was set up by the locals and has raised more than £115,000 ($140,656) by the time of publication. On Sunday, Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth will be lit up in blue as a tribute to the eight-year-old.