Tributes to 'gentle' teenager Tom (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Tributes to 'gentle' teenager Tom

4:00pm Friday 29th June 2007 in Swindon By Gazette Reporter

Tributes to 'gentle' teenager Tom By Sarah Hilley CommentTom at his school prom a couple of weeks ago FAMILY and friends are struggling to come to terms with the sudden death of a teenager they described as gentle and kind-hearted.

Tom Bromilow, 16, died after suffering a heart attack following a routine operation.

He faced a bright future, having just taken his GCSE exams.

Dad Steven Bromilow has told of the shock of losing his only son and of the support of friends who loved Tom's gentleness and individuality.

"He was lovely," said Steven, 42. "He didn't have a bad bone in his body."

Tom went into Bristol's Royal Infirmary on June 19 for what he expected to be routine surgery to maintain a replacement heart valve.

The operation went well and Tom was on the way to a good recovery.

The Kingsdown School pupil, who had enjoyed his school leavers' prom just a few weeks before his death, let his family take pictures of him recovering in hospital so he could post them on his Myspace web page.Tom in hospital But now his dad is making copies of the photographs to give to Tom's friends to remember him by.

The day after the operation he suffered a minor heart attack, followed by a major one from which he failed to recover, leaving Steven, mum Amanda and sister Sarah, 21, devastated.

Tom, an internet gaming fanatatic, was born with a hole in his heart and underwent major surgery with only a 50 per cent survival rate in 1991.

Steven faced losing him then, but never dreamt he would relive that experience when his son was on the verge of adulthood.

"I thought if I was ever going to lose him, I'd lose him the first time around," said the father-of-two.

"During the first six months of his life, one of his lungs didn't work properly - he would stop breathing. We had a lucky escape then.

"We have revisited that nightmare now. We never expected this."

The home he shared with his only son in Upper Stratton has signs of Tom everywhere, including two drum kits and gaming equipment.

Sympathy cards line the window while his loved ones try to understand what has happened.

Steven said he never considered the operation could go wrong, as doctors said there was only a two per cent risk of death.

"It should have been fairly straightforward," he said. "It was something routine that needed to be got out of the way. As far as we were concerned it couldn't have gone any better. We thought we were on the home stretch.

"Tom kept smiling the whole way through it. He never made a fuss about his heart condition."

Friends have built a dedicated website full of photographs and special memories they have shared with the teenager.

Tom, described as "a bit of a goth" by his dad, also maintained his own Bebo page on the internet, on which he said what made him happy.

Tom wrote: "Being hugged, talking, gaming, sleeping - I'm happy in most situations but some are better than others."

The computer gamer, who went by the name of Lordsunwolf, planned to start studying for a BTEC in computing at New College in September.

His dad described what made him proud of Tom.

Steven said: "He had a good sense of fun and was really caring. He made me proud as he was a happy soul who never complained."

Steven recalls when Tom got into fights at school to defend other children being bullied.

"He was punched at school once and headbutted, but both times he was sticking up for other children who were being hit," he said.

Tom held a part-time job in electronics store CEX and received his first pay packet last Friday, which his dad said would have made him proud. A funeral date has still to be arranged.

Teacher remembers a popular pupil TOM'S school, Kingsdown, has paid tribute to the teenager.

Mike Wilson, head of Year 11 at Kingsdown, told of how Tom strived to protect vulnerable teenagers at the school.

"Tom was a good lad," Mr Wilson said. "He was a real credit to his parents who were always very supportive of the school.

"He was a well adjusted young man who was extremely tolerant of other students and as a result was popular with his peers.

"We knew he had health problems but they were never a real issue during his time at school. He attended regularly and always gave his best.

"He worked hard at all his subjects, was never in trouble and was looking forward to success at GCSE level, particularly with his computer studies. I got to know him through a lunchtime club he attended to play Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons.

"He was a great help to me as he helped support the more vulnerable students in the club. He was a friend to those students who found relationships difficult. He was quiet but strong willed. He could not be pushed around and would stand up for himself.

"Many of his peers, currently on holiday following their exams, have come into school to speak about Tom. He will be fondly remembered as a nice lad."

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