'His biggest dream was to help people': Boy, 14, declared brain dead weeks after collapsing during 2.4km run, mum donates his organs

To honour her youngest son's dream of helping others, a mother decided to donate his organs after the teen was declared brain dead more than three weeks after he collapsed in school.

Isaac Loo, 14, fell unconscious midway through a 2.4km practice run in school at around 8.15am on May 2.

The Woodlands Secondary School student was rushed to KK Women's and Children's Hospital, and later slipped into a coma, reported Lianhe Zaobao.

Alas, the teen was declared brain dead by doctors on Saturday (May 25) — which devastated his 52-year-old mother Fiona Soo, who had clung to hope for weeks that he would wake up.

Soo and her three children are permanent residents from Malaysia. Her husband died of liver cancer in 2022. 

Soo told Zaobao that the news from the doctor, broken just four days after Isaac's 14th birthday, was a huge blow. 

"The doctor said Isaac may have fallen into a coma because his heart could not bear the stress during vigorous exercise, leading to arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat)," she added.

"Our family has no history of this condition, and Isaac has never complained of heart-related chest pain. This happened too suddenly."

Brain death is the irreversible loss of all functions of the brain, and people who are declared brain dead cannot recover or regain consciousness.

While still grieving the loss, Soo had to decide whether to donate the boy's organs.

She was initially reluctant as she wanted to protect her child — until she learnt that more than 400 patients were waiting for organ transplants and remembered that her son had repeatedly said that his biggest dream was to help people.

"I thought about this from my child's perspective and informed the organ donation coordinator of my decision the next day."

Under the Human Organ Transplant Act, a person must be certified brain dead before retrieval of organs can proceed. 

About 30 family members and friends, including those from church, turned up at the hospital to say goodbye to Isaac and support Soo.

After singing one last hymn, they tearfully watched as the boy was pushed into the operating theatre, reported Zaobao. The hospital reportedly told Soo that Isaac's corneas, liver, kidneys, pancreas and skin were retrieved and donated to at least three patients.

Chen Ruizhu (transliteration), a church friend, said: "Isaac was helpful and very likable; church members would call him 'baby'. He once said that he wanted to contribute to society, but I didn't expect that he would do so in this way."

In response to AsiaOne's queries, Mrs Tay Yang Fern, principal of Woodlands Secondary School, said they are "deeply saddened".

After Isaac collapsed on the day of the incident, he had difficulty breathing, she said. His PE teacher performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and used a defibrillator on him, and an ambulance was called at around 8.20am.

"All students undergo warm-up exercises and well-being checks by their PE teachers before the start of any physical activity in school," Mrs Tay added.

"Following the incident, school leaders conducted internal checks and ascertained that safety protocols were adhered to."

Mrs Tay added that Isaac's school leaders and teachers had visited him and his family regularly at the hospital to render support and assistance. School staff will also provide emotional support to Isaac's close friends and classmates.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com