Wilmington teenager Austin Wilson who leveraged woodworking abilities was found unresponsive and later declared dead. He was working on the PBS show This Old House at the time. His sudden death was shocking for his family and the entire team of This Old House. Wilson used to look just like other boys, fine and healthy. So what caused his sudden death? 

Austin Wilson passed away at the age of 18

Austin Wilson passed away unexpectedly on January 9, 2018. It was tremendously sad to hear the passing of a young man as his age was only 18.

Wilson was traveling for The International Builders Show when he passed away. He was staying in a hotel room in Orlando Florida. 

Reportedly, Wilson died in his sleep. The reason behind his death was a long-time pre-existing medical condition. His specific part of the immune system was missing and his body was not reacting to the vaccinations from his childhood. According to the doctor, the name of the illness is immunodeficiency, one of the rarest diseases seen in one out of every 100,000 children.

Austin Wilson’s dream was to build a house for his mother

Before Wilson died, he was working on a table to give to his mother. His biggest dream was to build her a house. He would have definitely done that if he was still alive.

Wilson could achieve anything from his skills and learning capacity according to the This Old House team members. Though he could not complete his dream, he did build a platform for other young kids like him.

Out of 100 participants, Austin was one of the top three contestants selected to be an apprentice on This Old House. He was the youngest apprentice on the PBS television show. He was also the dearest member of the team which is why his passing left many people heartbroken.

The host of This Old House, Kevin O'Connor, said Austin literally jumped off the screen in his application video. He added Wilson was good in front of the camera. This Old House team shared a special video on their Instagram mourning his loss and cherishing the memories they shared with him.

Some of Wilson’s episodes can still be seen on YouTube. They previously used to air on UNC-TV Public Television on Sunday.

Austin Wilson Short Wiki

Austin Wilson was born in 1999. He learned and began woodworking at age 12 with Kids Making It, a local after-school program. He was a hardworking boy who stepped up to help anyone in the workshop.

He went to New Hanover High School and graduated from there. Then just a day after graduation, he flew to Boston early in the morning to join This Old House 

He was studying Construction Management at Cape Fear Community College before he got chosen to be one of three trainees on the show. His work ethic and enthusiasm got him selected for the show.

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