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A tragic schoolboy who died suddenly on Saturday lost his mum at three and had moved to Kent for a better life.
Tributes have been paid to Oasis Academy pupil Emre Huseyin who collapsed at his home in Sheerness. He would have celebrated his 16th birthday tomorrow.
It is thought he and a friend had been experimenting with drugs.
His eldest sister Ceren Huseyin, 20, said: “He was a smart boy and getting on so well at school. He was friendly and loved going out with his friends.
"He will be sorely missed. We all loved him so very much. It is such a terrible loss.
She added: “This was so unexpected. He had many plans. He was full of aspirations.
"He wanted to study psychology and business in the sixth form. He had such a big future ahead of him. He loved reading and drama and was in school plays.”
The family moved to Sheppey from Lewisham, south London, five years ago to have a fresh start.
Ceren said: “We wanted to live somewhere where there wasn’t so much crime”
Emre settled into the Oasis Academy and soon became a mainstay of the secondary school’s award-winning dementia cafe.
He was delighted when it was featured in the NHS 70-year anniversary magazine and was invited to meet Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to thank him for his volunteering.
His father Yusuf Sakaryali had been visiting another son in Cyprus when he was told the devastating news and flew back on Sunday.
Classmates are to hold a vigil in memory of Emre at 5pm tomorrow on what would have been his birthday.
They are gathering at New Road playing fields in Sheerness.
A family friend said: “They had been planning to gather around the clock tower but were advised that there might be so many people that the High Street could be blocked.”
Six floral tributes were propped against the wall of Emre’s home in Berridge Road, Sheerness, where he lived with his father, sisters Ceren and Seren, 17, step-mother and two-year-old step-brother.
His own mother died when he was three. He has two older brothers who live in Cyprus and Poland.
At evenings and weekends Emre Huseyin would work at the Mustache barbers in Sheerness High Street for pocket money.
Owner Nicolae Costin-Christian said: “He was a very good boy. He would open the door for customers, show them to a seat, offer to get them a coffee and then sweep up their hair from the floor afterwards.
“I first met him when he came into the shop to have a haircut with his father. I have watched him grow up.
“I understand Emre might have taken something but if he did then it was very out of character.
“I have never seen him touch a cigarette or drink alcohol.”
Another teenager, who has not been named, was taken to hospital on Saturday and later discharged.
Police arrested a teenager from Orpington on suspicion of supplying drugs on Saturday. He was bailed, pending further enquiries, until February 26.
A second teenage boy, from Sidcup, was arrested on Monday and was still being interviewed yesterday.
