A YOUNG father who died during a routine operation has been described as "one in a million" by his shocked friends and family.

Stuart Thompson had a cardiac arrest triggered by a reaction to anaesthetic while undergoing an appendix operation.

The death of the 28-year-old, who would have become a father for the second time in September, shocked friends and team-mates at Bromsgrove's Turk's Head pub.

Andrea, his "soul-mate" and mother of their 19-month-old son, Harry, said life for the devoted family man, who ran his own air-conditioning business with his father, John, as a director, was blissful.

Fairytale

"He frequently remarked he was the happiest man in the world," she said.

"He was one in a million."

The couple were planning a fairytale wedding in Dalhousie Castle, in Edinburgh, next year. Harry and the new baby were to be christened there at the same time.

Mr Thompson - "Scooby" to his friends - was educated at Millfield, St John's, and South Bromsgrove High School.

Speaking from her family home in Buckfast Close, Friarscroft, Bromsgrove, his mother Sue said he went to Redditch's Alexandra Hospital on Monday, April 23, complaining of pains in his side.

Appendicitis was diagnosed and the operation was performed the following day.

"Doctors said his death was due to an allergic reaction to anaesthetic caused by a genetic disorder which affects one in 30,000 people," she said.

Football

Mr Thompson was superbly fit she added, and had recently been accepted for the Territorial Army.

Apart from playing football for the Worcester Road pub and being devoted to his family, his main interest was fishing.

Sadly, a letter from the Pike Angling Club telling him he had won a best newcomer trophy, arrived too late.

The landlady at the Turk's Head, Jill Reid, said many took time off work to console themselves.

On Sunday, players wearing the yellow strip Mr Thompson had sponsored observed a minute's silence before the start of his team's Rose Bowl final against Boar's Head Exiles at the Valley Stadium, in Redditch.

As a mark of respect the number five shirt worn by their team-mate was left on the dressing room peg.

The funeral takes place tomorrow at St John's Church, Bromsgrove, at 1.30pm followed by a family service at Redditch crematorium.

A hospital spokesman said: "The trust extends its sympathy to his family."