The family of a teenager who died suddenly are planning a basketball tournament in his memory.

Denis Leramo, 19, suffered a suspected heart attack on Cathall Bridge in Leytonstone on September 30 last year.

The former Leyton Sixth Form College student had just started at London Metropolitan University and lived with his mother, father and brother in Beachcroft Road, Leytonstone.

He played for the Eastside Eagles basketball team and was walking home from university when he collapsed.

His 53-year-old mother, Christine Ladoja, is organising a basketball tournament in June with the help of the mothers of Denis’s friends and basketball coach David Lavinier.

An achievement award, named after Denis, will also be handed out annually to basketball players in the local area.

Ms Ladoja said: “Basketball was his passion, so we are going to bring everyone together to honour Denis by doing the sport he loved.

“Everyone has been so supportive so we want to thank everyone.

“I was at work when I got the phone call from the police.

“They asked me if I had a son called Denis, and told me he was in intensive care at Whipps Cross.

“But he could not be saved. A cardiologist later told me he had died on the spot.”

Mr Leramo’s father Charles said: “I knew something was up because she was crying down the phone.

“It was the worst moment of my life when I found out he had died.

“My son was the kindest, most caring person and he was loved and appreciated by so many people.”

Mr Leramo, described as a “gentle giant” at 6ft 6ins, led basketball classes at Elmhurst Primary in Forest Gate and Chingford Primary School.

His 16-year-old brother, Victor, who attends Buxton School in Leytonstone, described how he passed the place where his brother had died soon after it had happened.

He said: “I was on the W14 bus coming home from shopping at Asda and saw lots of ambulances and police on the bridge, but didn’t think anything of it.

“Once I got home I got a call from my mum asking me to get to Whipps Cross as soon as I could as Denis was ill.

“He was my big brother and I can’t express what he meant to me, it was so unexpected for him to die.”