"We were about seven and 10 at a family event on the Gold Coast and Jake was giving me the s***s and I told him to knock it off but he kept going and I ended up belting him. I split him across the bridge of his nose and there was plenty of blood and mum (Leanne) whipped around and said, 'what's going on here'? Jake said, 'nothing, I've just got a blood nose'.

As anybody with a sibling will tell you, the normal response is to dob them in. It means you don't get in trouble.

But Jake Ryan was different. He always was.

Unfortunately, the world lost one of its most passionate people overnight when Jake died while on holiday in Italy. He was 39.

"The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance, in accordance with the Consular Services Charter, to the family of an Australian man who died in Italy. Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment," a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said.

Although initial details had yet to be confirmed in the hours immediately after Jake's death, the family believes he was killed when struck by a train while on a run. The family understands he had his headphones on and therefore wouldn't have heard the train.

It's incredibly heartbreaking that someone who survived the Bali bombings, which, ironically. Jake had posted on his Facebook site to commemorate its 18^th anniversary on October 12, could be killed doing something he was so passionate about - keeping fit.

"He was unashamedly proud of his own body and when I last spoke to him about three weeks ago, we were FaceTiming, he just strips off, gets out of his work gear and puts his running gear on, but he doesn't stop the conversation, we speak for another half an hour while he's running," great friend and former Surfers Paradise Football Club (Jake's beloved home club) chairman John Rankin said.

"You talk about some people that are fitness fanatics, this guy's at another level.

"He was also as loyal a person as I've ever met."

Just ask Mitch, who also survived the Bali bombings.

"We ended up on the same medical bus, Jake was on a stretcher (he suffered severe stomach and foot injuries)," he recalled.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"I could hear him yelling my name and once I saw Jake, everything was OK, everything was good."

Spoken like any proud little brother.

Jake is survived by parents Danny and Leanne, siblings Mitch and Will.