A week ago, New Britain resident Charles Bimpong was praying for a miracle. It was a miracle that didn’t happen.
"It came out of all of a sudden," recalled Bimpong.
His 15-year-old son Andrew woke up in the middle of the night complaining of an excruciating headache. He died the next day of a massive brain hemorrhage.
"I see him everywhere I turn in the home. He is there. When all the family members go home and then I’m alone in the house, then it’s very very difficult for me," Bimpong said.
The death of the New Britain High School sophomore shocked his classmates.
"It was just so quick and unreal," said Kennedy Otuo-Acheampong, who met Andrew at church two years ago.
The pair has been inseparable ever since.
"We were friends, we were like brothers," he explained.
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He said he’ll miss the long summer nights playing basketball with his best friend.
"He’s a really friendly person. He’s really cool and... he’s really easy to make friends with," added Otuo-Acheampong.
It’s been difficult for students to walk through the hallways and not see their friend, but the New Britain High School principal said trying to understand Andrew’s death has brought the school communty together.
"It’s a tragic loss that we have, but I also think it’s also bringing out kids who want to do something because of the fact that it was someone so close to their age," said school principal David Chambers.
Classmates wrote down their favorite memories of Andrew and shared them with his family.
"I have no idea how I would have pulled through these few days without them," said Bimpong.
The community support is helping Andrew’s father get through the grief.
Funeral Services for Andrew Bimpong are scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at the New Britain Memorial-Sagarino Funeral Home. The family invites community members to attend.
