Eight days before his 10th birthday on December 11, 2016, Tyreez Mundroina (pictured) collapsed when playing basketball for the Lakeside Lightning team at the Warwick Leisure Centre in Perth and although medically trained observers rushed to his aid, his life could not be saved.
As related in The West Australian of December 5, Tyreez collapsed on the court at half-time in front of hundreds of shocked teammates, parents and spectators. Describing Tyreez as a "lovely, gentle, caring kid with the sweetest heart,” his coach Matt Burd relived those tense moments when "coming back to the bench after the first siren had gone for half-time, I just thought he had kind of tripped over. I went over to him and said ‘are you all right?’ but he just never got up. I went to get help.” A nurse and physiotherapist in the grandstands tried to resuscitate the child, including shocking his heart with a defibrillator but could not succeed.
According to Burd, Tyreez was "down-to-earth and cared so much about basketball and his teammates… His sudden and tragic death has reminded everyone in the club how life is so fragile and can be taken away in an instant.” Two days later, the basketball community in Western Australia was wearing black tape to commiserate with the Mundroina family.
Appreciative of the support extended by the staff and families of Lakeside Basketball as also the Wesley College in South Perth where he studied for making him the "awesome” boy that he was, the family clarified that Tyreez had no pre-existing medical conditions that could have forewarned his parents Mehrab and Farizia. Tyreez’s younger sister, Suraiah, is aged seven years.
The Mundroinas have been residing in Perth since May 2000. Plans were afoot to navjote Tyreez and his cousins jointly. Besides playing basketball, Tyreez also enjoyed building lego models and cubby houses, gardening, and watching "Science Of Stupid” on National Geographic to satiate his hunger to learn how things are built.
Farizia’s brother Yaz Mubarakai who is the Labor Party candidate for Jandakot resides with his family on a property adjacent to the Mundroinas’ home. The families have their roots in Dahanu.