BURBANK — Community members are mourning the loss of St. Finbar Parish School student Shenon Kumaratunga.
The 10-year-old straight-A student died July 12 at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
The direct causes for the death are not known but Shenon had suffered from a congenital heart condition, his family said.
“Shenon was such a big sweetheart. He didn’t have a bad bone in his body,” said Ianthe Knezevich, whose son Stephen was Shenon’s classmate.
“He never let his condition hold him back at all. He was full of energy.”
Shenon was admitted to the hospital on July 8 after having recurring pneumonia symptoms, including a high fever and a bad cough, his second cousin Nishan Fernendo said.
Shenon’s mother, Sandra, and his sister Rowena, now 13, came with Shenon to the United States in December 2003 from Sri Lanka under a medical visa, Fernendo said.
Shenon was always trying to find ways to help out the community. He collected DVDs and toys for children at the Children’s Hospital, Fernendo said.
“He always said that he wished no other kid would be born with a condition like his,” he said.
“If he had lived longer, he would have dedicated part of his life to finding more medical research.”
Shenon also had aspirations to become a cartoonist and took time to draw sketches of superheroes such as Spiderman, Knezevich said.
“All his work was just so beautiful and impeccable,” said Cynthia Frank, an assistant art teacher at St .Finbar, who taught Shenon for two years.
“He was a wonderful kid, he was always laughing and was kind to everybody.”
Although he had several absences because of his health problems, Shenon was determined to keep his grades up, Fernendo said.
“His teachers never faulted him for not being there, because he would always follow up with them and complete his missing assignments,” Fernendo said.
“He probably only got one B in his whole life. He was extremely bright.”
While the family plans to have a memorial service in the U.S., they are working to get Shenon’s father permission to enter the country, Fernendo said.
So far, his several attempts to the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka have failed.
