Featured Image Credit: Martinhouse.org
Topics: Mental Health, Parenting, Health
Mia Williams
A family’s ‘world fell apart’ after discovering that their little boy had died on Boxing Day.
After a ‘wonderful Christmas day’, 16-month-year-old Jack was tragically found dead in his cot by his dad Darren Midgley.
It’s every parent's worst nightmare, and after a magical Christmas, the family said that their lives ‘will never be the same again’.
Recalling the moment their world came crashing down, Darren, in an interview with The Sun, said: “I just cracked his door open and it was perfectly silent, so I walked over to his little cot.
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"But, as soon as I put my hand on his back it was cool.
“What I saw at that point, I knew my baby boy had gone.”
Jack’s mum, Cheryl Szulhan, said that her son went to bed a ‘happy, healthy, and well-loved little boy’ that night, and that the reason for her son’s sudden death is still unknown to this day.
She said: “We still don't have the answers as to what's happened.”
The family said that Christmas to them was never just a one-day celebration, and that Santa had visited them four times over the festive period.
After their devastating and shocking loss, the family were referred to Martin House in Manchester, where families can receive bereavement support having just lost a child.
As well as wide-ranging support, Martin House also provides special cooled rooms, where children can be looked after and families have the opportunity to go in and see them, creating their last ever memories.
Jack was at Martin House for five days until the post-mortem looking into how he died was completed.
Whilst at the bereavement support facility, the family were able to create lifelong keepsakes to remember their little boy.
Darren 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 foundations of happiness our family was built on are gone.
“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.”
