A couple whose 17-year-old son died suddenly during a school sports match have spoken one year after his death, giving their advice on dealing with and discussing grief.
Raphaël Pryor collapsed on the green at Eton College while playing Field Game, a rugby-football hybrid unique to the school.
Raphaël’s father Michael Pryor watched in horror as his son dropped and CPR commenced, before the teenager was taken to Wexham Park Hospital and kept alive until his mother arrived.
Sabine Vandenbroucke rushed to her son’s hospital bed and Raphaël was pronounced dead at 10.30pm on March 16, 2024, with the cause of death as sudden adult death syndrome (SADS).
SADS is given as a cause of death after a cardiac arrest that cannot be explained by a post-mortem examination because the heart’s structure appears normal.
Speaking a year after her son’s death, Mrs Vandenbroucke told The Sunday Times: ‘We feel the grief so viscerally because we loved him so much.
And remember…'suddenly'😪💔
— cheri maday (@resilient333) June 2, 2025
*Raphaël Pryor-17-England
*"Our only child…"
*March 16, 2024
*Tragically, Raphaël collapsed and died while playing in Eton Old Boys Field Game alongside his father at Eton College, "with the cause of death as sudden adult death syndrome (SADS)"… pic.twitter.com/VZKLpZcNtu
