A Texas high school student got out of class after complaining about a stomach ache. The boy, seventeen-year-old Josh Gray, told his teacher that his stomach was hurting him, so he left the class with a note to go to the nurse’s office at Dawson High School where he went to class. Gray loved to travel and play golf like many other teenagers attending high school in the great state of Texas – however, his life came to an early end due to the regular ailment he faced while in class.

Doctors later learned that Josh Gray suffered a severe problem inside of his body. The artery leading to his pancreas ruptured causing a severe stomachache that bothered him enough to seek medical attention from the school nurse. However, his pancreas ruptured after the artery broke and medical professionals were not able to stop the internal bleeding the young Texas teen died from the internal injury.

According to doctors, there was no way they could have helped Josh Gray in time to save his life. He simply bled out too fast and there was no way to get the teen from his Texas high school to an appropriate medical location where he could get the help he needed to survive. Doctors reported that there was no way anyone could have foreseen the tragedy that ended the young teen’s life so abruptly.

“He went from going to school yesterday morning — normal day, happy — to having a stomach ache, to within two hours not being with us anymore,” Josh’s mother, Laurie Gray, told KHOU.

In response to the teen’s sudden death, his family has created a fundraising account on GoFundMe to help raise money to cover the funeral expenses. In addition to receiving help from the general public, the family will also use the donated funds to support medical research that finds and cures various underlying diseases that might have caused the boy’s pancreas to rupture so suddenly.

The GoFundMe account had a goal of raising $30,000 toward funeral expenses and medical research but has already received more money than requested for a total of $35,000 at the time of this writing.

“Josh loved everyone for who they were,” Josh’s friend, Austin Hurst, said. “I’m loud and obnoxious; he loved that about me. I mean, he loved all of us for exactly who we were. And that was the best part about being with Josh; you could be you.”

Josh has made such a positive impact on the people who knew him that his friend is going to take a mission trip that Josh was planning to take during the summer months away from school.

“We love Josh,” his friend, Seth Blunt, said. “We all love Josh. He’s connected to us.”

What do you think about the Texas teen’s sudden death after suffering from a stomachache? Have you ever had a bad stomachache like Josh Gray?