The mum of Caleb Pace, 20, who collapsed during Oztag game and later died, had heart problems

An apprentice electrician who died three days after he collapsed during a game of Oztag went for regular checkups as his family had a history of heart problems.

Caleb Pace, 20, whose heart went into fibrillation causing him to stop breathing while playing the match at a Gold Coast sports ground, may have had a hereditary heart condition.

Onlookers performed CPR on Mr Pace at the touch footy ground and he was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital, where he was placed in an induced coma.

He died on June 23. The exact cause of Mr Pace’s death is not yet known.

According to a family GoFundMe page, Michelle Ebens was the youngest person in Australia to have a defibrillator that restarts her heart when she needs it

His sudden passing seemed to make little sense: aside from being young, he was fit and lived a busy and active life, competing at mixed martial arts, Oztag and holding down a physically demanding job.

Mr Pace took care of his health and went in for regular heart check-ups after his mother Michelle Ebens suffered from problems all her life.

At a young age she had a small defibrillator implanted into her chest. 

According to a family GoFundMe page, Ms Ebens was the youngest person in Australia to have a defibrillator that restarts her heart when she needs it.

Mr Pace’s uncle Steve Clarke said Mr Pace and his younger brother Cy had regular heart check-ups because of their mum’s heart issues.

But ‘nothing ever came up on the radar’, Mr Clarke said.

Family and friends of Ms Eben are understood to now be worried for her, over her own health but also because she is said to be ‘heartbroken’ by her son’s death.

She expressed her anguish over the loss of her son in a post to Facebook, saying her heart was ‘broken’ and she was ‘in so much pain’.

‘My baby is gone and life will never be the same,’ she wrote.

The GoFundMe page was set up by family friend Jessica Trevor to support his devastated mother Michelle, father Tony and brother Cy, 19.

‘Everyone who has been privileged enough to have met you and known you is praying,’ Ms Trevor wrote on the page.

Tributes have flooded social media in the wake of the tragedy.

His parents and brother said he was an ‘incredibly generous, giving, caring, kind and loving soul with a heart of pure gold’.

Family and friends of Ms Eben are understood to now be worried for her, over her own health but also because she is said to be ‘heartbroken’ by her son’s death.

The funds raised through the GoFundMe page would go towards financially supporting Caleb’s family and allow them to grieve in peace.

The page’s objective is to raise $20,000 to help find and fund Ms Eben and her son Cy a home in Queensland and to give the famly time to grieve. 

She had previously lived away from her sons, being separated from them for 18 months due to the rental crisis in Queensland. 

She struggled to find a rental property for herself and her two boys.