A family is grieving after a 12-year-old boy and his grandfather were found dead while on a camping trip. Kaicy Rakai Zelden Brown, 12, and David Brown, 66, were on a family camping trip in Wales, when the boy’s uncle found them unresponsive in a tent on September 14. Despite getting help from emergency services, the boy and his grandfather were both dead.
The cause of their deaths is still under investigation, and a toxicology test will test for carbon monoxide, per the BBC.
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Police suspect carbon monoxide poisoning.
Although their deaths are still under investigation, authorities suspect accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, The Evening Standard reported. Per the news outlet, a cooking stove may have caused the carbon monoxide poisoning. Kaicy and his grandfather had been sleeping in the same tent. Kaicy’s uncle slept in a nearby tent.
The headteacher at Kaicy’s elementary school set up a fundraiser.
Phil Sherwood, the headteacher at Kaicy’s former elementary school, set up a GoFundMe page for Mandi Brown, Kaicy’s grandmother and guardian. Mandi is also a teaching assistant who has worked at the school for more than 20 years, according to the GoFundMe page.
“This is a desperately sad situation, not least of all because Kaicy was only 12 years old,” Phil Sherwood wrote. “We, as a school and local community of parents, friends and colleagues, are in shock.”
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Sherwood praised the boy's kind nature.
On the GoFundMe page, the headteacher described Kaicy as “a kind, thoughtful and emotionally-aware boy who lit up a room with his smile and good sense of humor.” He said Kaicy “was also an exceptionally talented artist and impressed us with his attention to detail and incredible commitment to his artwork.” As a student who was “loved by his classmates and adults alike,” Kaicy “had such a bright future ahead of him” and was “someone we always felt would achieve great things in his life,” Sherwood continued.
Friends of Kaicy's mother also started a GoFundMe page.
Someone else started a separate GoFundMe fundraiser to benefit Kaicy’s mom (and David’s daughter), Jessica Brown. “It is with a heavy heart we make this request for our lovely friend Jessica Brown. Most will know her as JRK and her amazing work helping many of the community with their housing needs,” Jessica’s friends wrote.
“The money raised will go towards funeral costs, a memorial and legal fees as Jess wants to bring her boy home, as there is disputes within the family about where he will be laid to rest,” the friends continued. “We don’t want her to go through anymore headache at this sad time.”
Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, and tasteless.
Anyone can experience carbon monoxide poisoning, though babies, children, pregnant people, older adults and people with certain health conditions are more likely to get sick from it, notes Johns Hopkins Medicine. Carbon monoxide is an odorless gas. Common sources of it include fires, portable generators, gas cookers, and gas or fuel-burning appliances in cabins or campers, among others, per Johns Hopkins and the UK’s National Health Service. Carbon monoxide is most dangerous in an enclosed area that does not have sufficient ventilation.
While sleeping in a tent might feel like sleeping outdoors, a tent is still an enclosed space, meaning it poses a high risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the American Camp Association.
