Devin Gordon: 'Overwhelming' response as £16,000 raised to help family of 13-year-old who died in Bathgate with funeral costs

Hundreds of people have donated more than £16,000 within little more than a day of a fund being set up to help the family of a West Lothian teenager who died suddenly.
Devin Gordon, 13, tragically died this week and countless people have paid tribute to the young footballer (Photo: Bathgate Juniors Football Club).Devin Gordon, 13, tragically died this week and countless people have paid tribute to the young footballer (Photo: Bathgate Juniors Football Club).
Devin Gordon, 13, tragically died this week and countless people have paid tribute to the young footballer (Photo: Bathgate Juniors Football Club).

Nicola Boyd, the mother of a boy who played in the same football team as Devin Gordon, 13, set up the fundraiser to help his family with funeral costs.

Ms Boyd wrote: “We are all very very sad to have heard this news this morning”.

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"As anyone can imagine this is any parents worse nightmare to lose a child”.

“Any donation to help this family with Devins funeral costs would take the load of the familys minds”.

Within 36 hours of its launch it had raised more than £16,000, thanks to more than a 1000 supporters, vastly exceeding the original fundraising goal of £2,000.

Ms Boyd posted an update on Thursday evening, and said she was “absolutely overwhelmed by all the donations”.

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One individual who donated described Devin as “such a lovely boy”, and said they were “thinking of all his family and friends at this very sad time”.

Another wrote: “Rest In Peace Devin. Our thoughts are with you all. Sending love and strength to your family”.

Devin played for the Bathgate Juniors Under 14s football team, and was known as a “team-player”, who had both “passion and skill”.

The club played tribute to their player in a social media post, which described Devin as “a light in the team which will never go out”.

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Ms Boyd said that her son, who played with Devin, said he was “a happy, funny, and nice lad”.

Fiends of Devin are hoping to get a 13th minute applause at Tynecastle to pay tribute to the young Hearts fans with Hibs also paying tribute writing: “Rest in peace, Devin. Everyone at Hibs is saddened to hear this tragic news”.

On Thursday, Devin’s family released a statement, issued by the police. They said: “Our lives have changed forever and will never be the same without our precious boy. We will miss him every day for the rest of our lives.

“Thank-you to everyone that’s paid tribute to Devin and those that have sent us condolence messages during this extremely difficult time.”

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A memorial event for Devin will be held today at Balbardie Park in Bathgate.

To donate, you can do so by visiting the GoFundMe page.

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