After fighting for his life 11 years longer than expected, a Lawrence boy lost the battle early Sunday morning.

Zachary Frey, 11, died about 6 a.m. in his own home, said his mother, Teri Frey-Snell.

Teri-Frey Snell and Zachary

Diagnosed at birth with truncus arteriosus, a congenital heart defect, Zach also had DiGeorge Syndrome, a disease caused by the absence or incomplete development of the thymus.

When he was born, doctors didn’t expect Zach to live more than a few days. He proved them wrong, but this summer and fall the chromosome defect took hold of his body. His lungs had started to fill with fluid during the past few days, Frey-Snell said.

“Last night I just prayed that God would have mercy on him and just take him because I can handle that, but I can’t handle seeing my child suffer,” she said.

Frey-Snell said that her son’s smile “just lit up the world,” and that despite the pain of his death she in some ways felt fortunate.

“Because I always knew that I was going to lose my child, I got the opportunity to never take him for granted,” she said.