School Struggles To Cope With Sudden Death Of 8-Yr.-Old Student
Posted March 20, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There are a few certain truths in life, and one of them is that an eight-year-old boy is not supposed to die.
There’s still no explanation for why a youngster at John McCrae Public School in the Major Mackenzie and McCowan area collapsed on Monday.
Hariess Sreeskandavel was running up and down a staircase along with the rest of his Grade 3 gym class.
It wasn’t like the youngster wasn’t used to the regimen. Kids his age are required to go up and down the stairs as part of their mandatory daily 20 minutes of exercise. But no one was expecting what happened next.
He suddenly collapsed in front of his classmates. His instructor found him lifeless and called for help.
But efforts to revive him proved fruitless and he was pronounced dead in hospital.
Sreeskandavel was a math whiz and a generous lad who friends say would always share his crayons.
His classmates, their parents and his teachers simply can’t believe what happened.
Grief counsellors came to the campus Tuesday to help staff and students cope with the sudden loss.
“His teacher is absolutely devastated and his classmates,” reveals principal Farooq Shabbar. ” We are not aware of any medical condition that the boy had suffered.”
The coroner has already ruled the death was a result of cardiac arrest, although there’s no clear indication yet of what caused it.
“Some of the children were teary and crying a little bit,” reveals grief counsellor Dr. Janice Baryshnik.
The family has been too distraught to talk publicly about the incident, but friends say they’re beyond comforting.
“They are so shaking. They are sad,” explains neighbour Devi Savikumar in a broken English that still speaks volumes. “They are sitting and they don’t say nothing. They just sad.”
The tragedy has affected even the hardest veterans, like Markham Fire’s Dave Gilson. He was one of the first on the scene when the rescue call came in.
“Most of the guys here have young kids at that age, right?” he muses. “So it makes you go home and hug your kids a little harder.”
The flags at the school have been lowered in the boy’s memory. Funeral arrangements are pending.
