IN LOVING MEMORY OF OUR VERY SPECIAL SON

Karim (Allah yerhamak) suddenly passed way on 3rd January 2007 at the age of 13 and 9 months. He suffered a violent allergic reaction (anaphylactoid shock) caused by a Brazil nut.
He had always been very fit and never had any reaction to nuts before. Noone understands why he had this reaction and why he did not respond to adrenaline given to him by the doctors who did their very best to save our son's life. At his inquest the Coroner said : " this was totally unfortunate and unexpected" and returned a verdict of accidental death.

He was a very popular pupil at St John's College where he had a lot of friends. He had the most beautiful smile. Karim loved his family, he adored his brother Melik and he also loved his friends and his school.

He had a passion for sport and music. He enjoyed drama too.He was loving, caring and very considerate. He was always thankful for what we did for him. He had a wicked sense of humour and he always made people laugh. He loved playing his guitar and his piano. His favourite group was Blink182. He used to sing beautifully one of their songs entitled " All the small Things". He had formed a band with friends and they used to have band practice on Mondays at St John's College.

He was a real star.Throughout his short life he won so many medals in swimming and athletics, he didn't think much of it but we were so proud of him and we will always be. We used to call him action boy because he was always either, swimming, running, batting/bowling or on his skateboard.

He joined Portsmouth Northsea Swimming Club at the age of 6 and he joined Portsmouth Athletics Club at the age of 8. He loved cricket and wanted to become a professional cricketer, he would always take his bat to school and practise at every opportunity. He played with United Sevices, Portsmouth and in his school team. During school holidays he enjoyed holiday courses at the Rose Bowl. His last visit to the Rose Bowl was 29th December 2006 when he thoroughly enjoyed the training and he was captain for the day. We are so proud of what he achieved in his short life.

Karim also loved animals and he bred girbles, we used to call him the girble master. He enjoyed helping others and raising money for charity, in2003 he raised money for children with leukaemia. Before Christmas 2006 his College organised a charity week, Karim took it very seriously as did his friends, he baked muffins to sell at his school and dressed up as a girl. This is why we asked friends to make donations to his charities as a lasting memorial through his school. Around 1055 pounds were raised and will be donated to the following charities: CAFOD World Gifts... Livestock for Africa and "Hope and Homes for Children". Karim would be so pleased.

St John's College organised a beautiful memorial on 26th February to celebrate his life. This was attended by over 200 people and we were so touched by the readings made by friends, teachers and headmasters of the Lower and Upper School. Thank you to Mrs Skinner and all her colleagues for making this a very special memorial.

His life touched so many people and although he's gone he is still with us.


A passion for sport

A passion for music

A passion for life

and above all, a passion for people.

These were our son's greatest strengths!

Looking back on Karim's short life, it is clear that he really lived it to the full making the most of every moment!

With no room for anger, jealously, envy, cynicism, apathy or hatred, but, with plenty of room for joy, love, enthusiasm and laughter.

Our family will treasure every moment we spent with Karim as I'm sure will many people who knew him. He was quite simply a joy to be with. To quote one of Karim's friends "he was well cool".

Karim would have wanted to thank the sports coaches from:

1. Portsmouth Northsea swimming club
2. United Services Cricket club and the Hampshire Rose Bowl
3. Portsmouth Athletics club

all of whom brought so much pleasure to our son's short life.


Dearest Karim may you have a happy, fun-filled, action packed life in the other World .

We are thinking of you and loving you always. God bless you.

We will upload pictures of Karim to share them with friends and family. You can also upload the pictures you have taken and share them with us and write any story you have to share (he made so many of you laugh). Karim started his piczo website before Christmas 2006 and it is a reflection of his sunny personality: www.kerimsoctoride.piczo.com
His last entry on January 3rd 2007, in my space website was " I love you all".


He was truly a wonderful boy, always smiling even when he was being told off! Thank you Karim for the beautiful memories you left us. Loving you forever and ever... Our family is no longer whole without you, we can't believe you've gone, we are hurting so much.

Thank you to all our friends and family for their prayers and kind thoughts they are giving us a lot of comfort.
Thank you also for your donations to Karim's charities, hope they will improve many lives.
God bless

PS: for info on anaphylaxis see www.anaphylaxis.org.uk