In spirit, Josh joined his brother Greg atop the snowy peaks of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon on what would have been his 31st birthday. Greg defied freezing conditions to complete the Three Peaks Challenge this weekend, something Josh had loved to do.
Josh died from complications of undiagnosed Marfan syndrome. In his memory, his family have raised over £2,000 to shine a light on this condition, hoping to spare others from a similar loss.
There's still time to donate if you are interested.
JOSH ENGLAND 1995-2025 by his mother, Margaret England
Josh was born on January 4th 1995 a beautiful healthy baby.
After a happy healthy childhood he grew into a very tall gangly teenager. We joked about his height as I’m only 5ft. A few illnesses included excessive headaches leaving his eyesight very poor put down to a mild case of meningitis. Painful joints put down to growing pains! But he grew into a healthy young man and completed a degree in Business Management.
Josh loved to play football and trained our local football team under 11s. The kids loved him and his dry sense of humour. But Josh loved to travel and set off to see Thailand and surrounding countries: he always returned home. He moved to the outer Hebrides living on the Isle of Harris and loved every minute. He came home in November 2024 after developing a bad pain in his back. This was the start of our nightmare.
After being admitted to hospital as he couldn’t breathe. He was diagnosed with kidney infection and then pneumonia! He was moved to intensive care where ONE doctor recognised it as Marfan Syndrome. We had never heard of it and nor had his two siblings.
After his aorta was replaced, doctors placed a stent within an elephant trunk graft to help reinforce the aorta. Then he had an aneurysm so a Candy Plug was fitted, only the second time this operation had been done in the UK. He was still very poorly his heart was enlarged and he needed a heart transplant but sadly all his arteries had been worn out and a transplant was impossible. He was given three weeks to live!!
Josh was treated in 3 hospitals and each hospital worked so hard to help him survive but sadly none could.
In that 3 weeks we had fun in the hospital he had friends arriving from all corners of the world. We had food parties as his appetite was still good. The staff were brilliant but into our third week he was sleeping more and more. Finally on Monday May 26th 2025 at 5.26pm he slipped quietly away. Our 6 months of hell had come to an end and my beautiful boy had died at the young age of 30years old with his whole life that should have been before him.
I had put on his resting place
‘no greater pain have I felt than when your heart stopped beating and mine carried on’
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This is Josh smiling as usual.
Thank you for this opportunity to play tribute to Josh I really appreciate it.
I hope for future sufferers Marfans can be recognised earlier and symptoms can be picked up sooner.
Pictured: Josh (left) with his brother on Christmas Day several years ago.
Pictured: Greg with the ashes of his brother Josh in a beautiful box.
