Ari Shultz, viral heart-transplant recipient, Boston Red Sox superfan, fighter, dies at 5

BOSTON (RNN) – The 5-year-old heart transplant patient and YouTube star whose release from Boston Children’s Hospital went viral has died.

Ari Shultz’s parents announced on his Facebook page that he passed away of cardiac arrest while listening to a Boston Red Sox game after a seizure last week sent him back to the hospital.

He had been home a little more than a month and was able to attend his little sister’s fourth birthday, according to TODAY.

He visited his grandmother in Maine. He went to a concert by a Grateful Dead tribute band - he loved the Grateful Dead, his dad said - and the U.S. Senior Open golf tournament, where he met Hale Irwin and other golf legends.

Two members of his beloved Red Sox, shortstop Xander Bogaerts and catcher Christian Vasquez, came to see him at his home. They read stories and played with him.

After hearing Ari had died, Bogaerts told the Boston Globe “I’ve never met a more inspiring little kid.”

He and Vasquez invited Ari to throw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game in August, hoping he would be strong enough to attend. One of his greatest wishes was to be able to go "to a baseball field."

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