A “hero” 18-year-old boy who died in a shooting near Wembley Stadium has made his family proud by saving four lives, reports London Now.
Tyrece David Balcha was shot at Atlantic Crescent, Wembley Park, on September 21 last year at 5.27am.
The boy was in the vicinity of South Way and First Way and was later found unresponsive outside Crystal Club.
He was rushed to hospital where he was fought for his life, however he died days later on September 25.
While the family are still distraught over his loss seven months later, his mother Bonnie has said that she is incredibly proud of her son, reports our sister-site London Now.
Tyrece was given a posthumous award as part of the Order of St John award for Organ Donation, which was launched in 2013 with NHS Blood and Transplant.
This comes after Tyrece’s organs were used to provide life-changing surgery for four people, including a heart donation.
Tyrece had already listed himself as an organ donor before his death, and discussed this with his family during a holiday in the Dominican Republic.
Bonnie said: “It is what he wanted to do before he passed. He said on holiday a week before - in his words - he said ‘why wouldn’t I? If I don’t need them, then someone else can have them’.
“That were his exact words a week before he died, which is eerie to us.
“We wanted to honour Ty’s wish, and within that he saved four lives.”
The avid Arsenal fan was described as the “kindest of souls” and said that his thoughtful decision to become a donor was not out of character for him.
She explained that only after his death, the family discovered Tyrece had been helping a homeless man with coffees and letting the man join in on Tyrece and his friends playing football so that he could “have fun”.
The homeless man went up to Tyrece’s sister Chloe following news of his death and said “he was my friend”.
Bonnie continued: “That’s the type of person that my kid was, Ty was in the wrong place at the wrong time just having a night out with his friends, and we have to live with that for the rest of our lives.
“They took his life for nothing.”
His family plan to honour his legacy on what would’ve been Tyrece’s 19th birthday on July 19.
A charity football fundraiser will be held, open to the public, at Goals Heathrow on Shepiston Lane during his birthday from 12.30pm to late.
It involves up to 32 teams competing in a five-a-side for all ages, with kick-off at 1.30pm after a minute of silence.
There will be soft play, a huge raffle to win various goods including signed football shirts, a DJ, Caribbean food and more - with all proceeds going to the NHS Blood and Transplant charity.
Anyone wishing to donate to the fundraiser should visit this page.
His mum said: “The seven months since he has been gone has been hell for us.
“It’s still ongoing and the amount of court hearings we have to attend, police meetings, looking at evidence - we’re all really broken.
“We’re just trying to focus on what we can do to keep his name alive and honour him in that way.
“We wanted to raise awareness for such an important charity, that’s we chose it - because he’s our hero.”
While the mum hopes to keep positive when reflecting on Tyrece’s life, she admits day-to-day life has been majorly impacted.
She questioned: “How do you move on from something this devastating?
“You’re reading it all the time in the papers that young kids are dying and I just don’t know how to manage the grief.
“It’s left a massive hole in my heart, I’m just empty now - he was literally my best friend.
“He was always with me, I thought he’d live with me forever, now I’m just trying to navigate a future without him and the change of our future plans.
“I”m proud of him and I know that I raised a good kid, I couldn’t be any prouder of him.”
Tyrece leaves behind his mother, dad, two older sisters, a younger brother and newly born twin nephews who are dealing with the grief.
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