AFTER a magical Christmas, a heartbroken family woke up to their worst nightmare when they found little boy dead on Boxing Day.
Jack was just 16 months old when he passed away on December 26 last year.
His dad Darren Midgley said: “Our world fell apart on Boxing Day. We woke to discover Jack had died suddenly in his sleep.”
The family of four had spent “wonderful Christmas Day” before that, Darren recalled, “with the boys playing with their new toys and a big dinner”.
“Christmas in our family is never just a day,” the dad added, saying how his sons had been to visit Santa four times.
Jack went to bed that night “a happy, healthy, well-loved little boy”, Jack’s mum, Cheryl Szulhan, said.
But the spell was broken when little Jack passed away suddenly during the night.
Darren recalled the moment when his world came crashing down around him on Boxing Day morning.
“I just cracked his door open and it was perfectly silent, so I walked over to his little cot.
“But, as soon as I put my hand on his back it was cool.
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“What I saw at that point, I knew my baby boy had gone.”
Almost a year later, the family still don’t know what occurred for their little boy to be taken from them so soon.
“We still don’t have the answers as to what’s happened,” Cheryl said, and she doubts whether the family will ever get them.
The family were referred to Martin House after little Jack’s sudden death, which offers support to grieving families across Yorkshire who’ve lost a child.
Aside from bereavement support, the facility also has special cooled bedrooms where children can be looked after and families get the opportunity to make a few last memories.
Jack was looked after in Martin House for five days until his post-mortem took place, which Darren described as a lifeline to the family.
“The idea of him being in the cold fridge in the hospital, no baby boy should be there,” he said.
“It felt like we’d been thrown into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in a storm at night with nowhere to go, and Martin House provided an anchor for us.
“We knew Jack was in a bedroom in his Christmas pyjamas and looked after, where the staff would talk to him and put on his night light.”
The care team also helped Darren and Cheryl create keepsake items with Jack’s fingerprints and hand prints.
Martin House Children’s Hospice has now launched its Christmas appeal to give more families in Yorkshire the specialist support Darren and Cheryl were able to access at the most devastating time in their lives.
“The foundations of happiness our family was built on are gone,” the grieving parents said.
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“Our lives will never be the same again, but Martin House is still here to support us.
“Our bereavement counsellor at Martin House is helping us through our overwhelming grief, supporting us to find coping mechanisms for day-to-day life”.
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Eliza Loukou
