Lewis Edward Botting (25 Nov 1999 - 4 Jun 2019)

In loving memory of Lewis Edward Botting who sadly passed away on 4th June 2019

Lewis was born on 25th November 1999 in Hinchingbrooke Hospital and lived the first year of his life in Hartford, Huntingdon. In March 2001, Lewis and his family moved to Papworth Everard, Cambridge.

Lewis attended pre-school in Papworth and then Pendragon Primary School where he made many friends and enjoyed his school life. Like so many young boys he enjoyed sport and he joined the local youth football team, Papworth Blasters.

After leaving Pendragon he went to Swavesey Village College to study for his GCSE's. Lewis was always a dedicated student and did well in his chosen subjects. His favourite was History and he had a keen interest in military history and in particular the WWII period. No surprise that he briefly joined the Army Cadets. At Swavesey VC he also found his sporting preference was Rugby and he joined the Swavesey VC Rugby team. As a result of his Rugby interest he also became a member of the youth Rugby team, Huntingdon Stags a local Rugby club which he loved playing for.

During this period of his life Lewis became ill and following a bout of chest infections, Lewis was diagnosed in April 2014 with Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Despite the seriousness of his condition Lewis always remained extremely positive and had a 'get on with it' attitude even then. Lewis spent from April to August 2014 in hospital both at Evelina Children's Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London. In May 2014, as a bridge to having his heart transplant, Lewis became the very first patient at GOSH to have a portable ventricular assist device (VAD) attached to his poorly heart which enabled him to live as normal life as possible whilst waiting for a donor heart to become available. This was a huge achievement for the team at GOSH and because Lewis' pioneering treatment went so well, several other VAD operations have been carried out for other children in the same situation. The plan was for Lewis to return home on his VAD, however this was not to be as literally the day he was due to come home a donor heart became available and he underwent his heart transplant on 10th August 2014. Lewis and his family will be forever grateful to the donor and their family for the gift of life. Remarkably, Lewis came home just 13 days later thanks to the dedicated team at GOSH as well as Lewis' own determination to get back to normal.

Lewis worked extremely hard to catch up with his GCSE school work. It was a great moment when Lewis was able to re-join his school friends at Swavesey VC in the autumn of 2014. Lewis was delighted when he passed all of his GCSE exams, much to the pride of his family.

Lewis' love of the outdoors led him to study Agriculture at the College of West Anglia as well as volunteering at Wimpole Home Farm most weekends, something he really enjoyed and reinforced his ambition to work in the farming industry. Whilst studying at college Lewis also made time to pass his driving test and he also met and started going out with his first girlfriend.

Following his graduation from college, having passed all his examinations, Lewis started work at a local farm for the harvest season. This is where his love of farming blossomed and although hard work and long hours he really thrived. After harvest he worked briefly on another farm potato picking. Lewis' most recent job was working with the landscape team at the American Cemetery in Cambridge. The common theme throughout Lewis' work life was his happiness with doing things he really liked and being able to be outdoors in his work.

Lewis lead a very normal life which he craved for, never revealing his medical history to anyone, preferring to just live his life the way he wanted and never wanting to be the centre of attention. As with lots of young lads his age he loved his Xbox and PlayStation as well as watching films and he also had a love a old British comedies, one of his favourites being Dad's Army!

Life for Lewis was ticking along nicely, his post-transplant clinic appointments were normal, with no particular concerns and Lewis was enjoying his work. In February 2019, at a routine hospital appointment, the consultants at Papworth Hospital noticed a significant change to Lewis' donor heart and he was admitted for further tests and treatment for rejection. Tests revealed no sign of rejection. However things were not as they should be and following a few bouts in hospital, Lewis was readmitted on 30th May 2019 and sadly passed away in the early hours of 4th June 2019.

Lewis' bravery and positive attitude throughout this worrying time is an inspiration to his family and in many ways took the seriousness of his condition away. His willingness to get back to normal was typical Lewis and this was one of his particular strengths.

Lewis is a much loved son, grandson, brother, nephew and cousin who will be missed enormously and has left a huge void in the lives of his family and friends.

As a family we would like to pay tribute to our very special young man. All are welcome to celebrate his life with us, funeral details are displayed on this page (Dress-code optional). We are asking for family flowers only, however if you wish to pay tribute to Lewis please donate to the Sick Children's Trust, which is a charity that supports housing families close to children's hospitals so that you can be close to your child providing a 'Home from Home'. Whilst Lewis was in hospital we spent 5 months at their accommodation called Rainbow House. We have also chosen the British Heart Foundation, both of which are displayed on this page. Donations can also be made at the funeral.

Lewis' family would like to invite you to join us for the funeral reception that will be held at:
The George and Dragon
41 Boxworth Road
Elsworth
Cambridge
CB23 4JQ

Please use the Attendance tab on this page to let us know if you are able to attend the funeral and the funeral reception.