Family of 'happy and cheeky' Minster boy fundraising to give him 'best send-off possible'
17:39, 25 January 2020
updated: 17:39, 25 January 2020
A beloved 12-year-old boy who defied doctors’ predictions that he would not reach his first birthday has died.
Brave Ralph Mattison-Evans, from Minster, had been battling rare condition nemaline myopathy, which left him unable to breathe independently or walk, since his birth.
The popular North Foreland School pupil has been described as happy, cheeky and intelligent by loved ones.
Sister Holly-Ann Woodgate, 20, said: “He couldn’t speak, but he would pull funny faces and he could tell you if he didn’t like you because he’d soon start to cry.
“He’d try to talk to you and I remember I tried to teach him to speak and he murmured ‘I love you’.
“He was a very clever boy and happy and cheeky – any time I’d see him, he’d laugh. He was loved by everyone.”
Ralph had spent much of the first year of his life in and out of hospital.
And when he was just four months old, his mother Sarah Mattison brought him home after being told by doctors that he would die.
“My mum brought him home to pass away, but he was so strong that he carried on living,” Holly-Ann explained.
“He’s done so well and proved everyone wrong to live to the age of 12.”
However, on Tuesday, January 21, Ralph left school early and was taken to the QEQM Hospital in Margate.
He was later discharged and taken home, but died at about 4.20pm surrounded by Sarah, Holly-Ann and his 18-year-old sister Amber.
'He was a very clever boy and happy and cheeky – any time I’d see him, he’d laugh' - Ralph's sister Holly-Ann Woodgate
“He was happy; we’d put a DVD on beforehand and he was smiling away,” Holly-Ann continued.
“He was fine, and then he just went. His heart started failing and I think we all knew it was time.
“He was in pain quite a bit in the last few months, so it’s nice to know he’s free.”
The family has set up a fundraising of page in the hope of generating enough cash to pay for a horse and carriage to take him to his funeral, the date of which has not yet been set.
Holly-Ann added: “I want Ralph to have the best send-off he could possibly have, so we can all remember how much joy he brought to the world.”
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