A keen sportsman died suddenly after collapsing at work – just a day after celebrating his birthday, his grieving Willenhall family have revealed.
Ben Harban, aged 22, felt dizzy during his shift at The Mitre in Essington and collapsed on Saturday.
Fellow workers and paramedics tried to resuscitate him but he was certified dead at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.
His funeral will be held on April 12 at Holy Trinity Church in Short Heath at 2pm. Ben loved all sports, including football, rugby, darts, cricket and racing. His ambition was to become a football coach.
The Aston Villa FC fan, of Astoria Close, New Invention, previously managed Blakenall Harriers and helped with the running of FC Strollers and Bloxwich Rangers. The theme tune of Saturday morning Sky football show Soccer AM will be played at his funeral.
Parents John, a metal polisher, and Gill, both aged 45, and siblings Vicky, 24, Charlotte, 12, and Matthew, 11, are devastated by Ben’s sudden death.
Mrs Harban said not a bad word could be said about her eldest son, a former pupil at New Invention Primary and Sneyd Community schools.
She said: “He was always helpful and very laid back. Women used to mother him, he had a lovely nature. We can’t understand how this has happened.”
An inquest was opened and adjourned by Wolverhampton coroner Richard Allen today. It emerged in the hearing that a post mortem had failed to establish the medical cause of death.
Taken From The Express and Star 29/03/07
http://www.expressandstar.co.uk/2007/03/29/ben-dies-day-after-birthday/
