An 18-year-old in Australia lost his life after hitting his head on the floor of his new apartment while doing a celebratory backflip.
According to media reports, Sonny Blundell, the teen who died in the incident, was very happy to start his “new life” with his girlfriend, having moved to a new apartment in Gold Coast, Queensland.
On June 24, he “was found unresponsive” by his housemate in the lounge of their apartment and was shifted to a hospital soon after.
Blundell was placed into a coma before undergoing brain surgery. However, on June 30, he succumbed to his injuries.
‘His new life, his greatest achievement…’: Sonny Blundell’s sister
Sonny Blundell’s sister, Izabella Cromack-Hay, said he had recently moved to the Gold Coast suburb of Southport “to start a new life with his girlfriend” after being offered a concreting job in the area.
“Moving to Queensland only a month ago, which was his greatest accomplishment, he worked the hardest concreting and making himself known,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
She said that her brother had Facetimed her on the day of the incident.
She recalled that he had been celebrating moving to Southport Beach with his best friend, Mitchell Bullard, when he did the backflip.
“He hit his head in the lounge room on the ground and had a headache, went to bed,” she told the outlet. “[He] woke up, went to the toilet, vomited, and then passed out. That’s when his best friend found him unresponsive in the morning.”
‘Multiple strokes, brain bleed’
Sonny Blundell suffered “multiple strokes” and a brain bleed ahead of having brain surgery, his sister shared on a GoFundMe page.
“The first 24 hours were the most critical … we nearly lost him after having multiple strokes and another bleed, which led to him needing a drain in his brain,” wrote Cromack-Hay. “There is major uncertainty that Sonny will or will not pull through. He’s working his hardest as there could be recovery and rehabilitation,” she wrote before his death.
The GoFundMe page has raised nearly $14,500 so far, with a goal of reaching $18,000 to bring Blundell back to his hometown, New South Wales, and pay for funeral costs.
“Sonny touched everyone’s soul so deeply, he was the kindest, loving and nurturing man you could have met,” his sister said, per The Daily Telegraph and Courier Mail. “Sonny will forever be missed and forever loved by all.”