A heartbroken mum says her family feels “incomplete” after the tragic death of her “special, caring and funny” son.

Aiden Pryce, from Dymchurch, died on February 9 aged 15 – just five months after being diagnosed with bone cancer.

He attended The Marsh Academy in New Romney, which will close early on Wednesday to allow pupils to attend his funeral.

His devastated mum, Kerry, told KentOnline: “I just feel like we're not complete as a family anymore.

“He was the light of our lives.”

Mrs Pryce says Aiden – who had autism, loved litter-picking and was rarely seen without his grey trilby hat – was “an absolutely lovely, perfect child”.

They discovered he had cancer when he injured his shoulder in PE and the pain did not subside.

Aiden was taken to the hospital and after scans and a biopsy was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in September last year.

After gruelling chemotherapy, his family received the devastating news on January 22 that the disease was terminal – and he died less than three weeks later.

“It had spread to his lung and completely encased it,” said Mrs Pryce, 44.

“While we were in hospital over Christmas, they did say Aiden would never be cancer-free. But I still had hope that he could have maybe five, six or seven years.

“Then in January, his consultant told us he only had a few weeks left. It all happened quickly at the end.”

Aiden died on his little sister Holly’s 14th birthday.

The siblings “loved each other very much” and were inseparable as young children.

Mrs Pryce says Aiden was “not like other 15-year-olds” and was mature for his age.

The Year 11 pupil once did the whole annual school 5k run while playing the harmonica.

Mrs Pryce said: “He just did things his own way. He would have hated doing the run, so he thought ‘play the harmonica, that'll make it for me’.“

“He didn’t care what people thought. He always wore a face mask, even after Covid, because he was worried about germs.

“He had autism, so everything was very black and white with him. Right was right and wrong was wrong.

“But he was just so caring – just an absolutely lovely, perfect child.”

Throughout his cancer battle, the youngster stayed “really positive”, including during his time at University College London Hospital.

“He kept making plans for when he got better,” Mrs Pryce said.

“We would have a laugh, and while he was in hospital Aiden told everyone, ‘I’ve got the best view over London’.

“He always looked for the silver lining in everything.”

After Aiden’s death, The Marsh Academy announced that the school would be closing early at 12.30pm today to allow pupils to attend his funeral.

Mrs Pryce said: “I just cried and cried when I heard that.

“We as a family knew how special he was.

“It was really nice that everyone else saw that too.

“He loved going to school – mainly to see his friends and do his litter picking.”

Head teacher Shaun Simmons paid tribute to the teenager in a letter to parents, saying: “Many of you will know that just before half-term, we sadly lost an important member of our school community, Aiden, to his short battle with cancer.

“Aiden was a lovely, special young man with so many beautiful, kind qualities and everyone in our school knew him, if not by name, he was immediately recognisable by sight.

“It was heartbreaking sharing this news before half-term, but the joyous memories of Aiden that have been shared since, by staff and other Year 11s, pay a wonderful and lasting tribute to him.

“Many involve him litter-picking at break and lunchtime, wearing his hat with pride and a smile on his face, but my personal favourite, shared by his form tutor, was taking part in the annual 5k last year, walking the whole way around playing his harmonica!

“He had such fun and he always brought happiness.

“Such a tragic loss will undoubtedly remind many of us of our own experiences of cancer or our own experience of grief or loss, so please do reach out to us for support if your child needs it.”

Chelsea Cox, a staff member at The Marsh Academy who was also Aiden’s teaching assistant in primary school, is running a half marathon in his memory.

A Just Giving page has been set up, with donations going towards the Children with Cancer UK charity.

Mrs Pryce added: “I would like to warn people about osteosarcoma.

“It’s most common in teenagers, so I would like to highlight that to other parents.”

According to the NHS, osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer, which mostly affects children and young adults under 20.

It can affect any bone, but most cases develop in the long bones of the legs or upper arms.

The main symptoms include:

*persistent bone pain that gets worse over time and continues into the night

*swelling and redness (inflammation) over a bone, which can make movement difficult if the affected bone is near a joint

*a noticeable lump over a bone

*a weak bone that breaks more easily than normal

*problems moving around – for example, walking with a limp.

Aiden is also survived by his grandmother Lyn Redpath, aunts Lisa Lynch and Emma Price, and Mrs Pryce’s partner Daniel Davis.