A heartbroken mother has shared the gut-wrenching moment her six-month-old baby girl died in her arms.
Rachael Rowe clung to tiny Sophia-Rae Beckett as she passed away in hospital on December 6 after a short battle with illness.
Yesterday, her 41-year-old mum, laid Sophia-Rae to rest after a traumatic six months of anguish. Her baby was born with a rare brain condition.
Sophia-Rae came into the world one-month premature by emergency C-section on June 7 after the baby was became stressed in the womb.
Alarm bells then began ringing when Sophia-Rae started shaking moments after being born.
She was taken to ICU and she was diagnosed with epileptic encephalopathy, a rare neurological condition which causes frequent fits, at two months old.
The tot then spent the next few months in and out of hospital as doctors tried to manage her condition.
The family were beginning plans for Rachael to look after Sophia Rae at home, as well as preparing a long-term care plan.
However, she passed away before that could happen.
Rachael, a mum-of-five, from Longton, gathered with the rest of her family to celebrate Sophia-Rae’s short life.
Speaking of those devastating final moments, she told StokeonTrentLive : “At 5.36 she had her last breath. She passed away in my arms.
“The doctors came and checked her heart and she was gone. She’d fallen asleep.
“She’d never been on her own.”
Sophia-Rae also leaves behind her dad Ian Beckett, 53, his 21-year-old twin sons Corben and Tyler, Rachael’s other children Joshua, 23, Phillip, 22, Jack, 19, Jessica, 18, and Destiny, seven.
Rachael added: “The doctors at Royal Stoke University Hospital just kept saying they couldn’t tell me how long she had. I always told them not to sugarcoat it.
“My daughter Jessica asked if she could come and see me, I said she could stay all day if she wanted, people could come in and out because Sophia-Rae was on limited life.
“Jessica stayed all day. I looked at Sophia-Rae and I said ‘Jessica, you can either go out of the room or you can stay with me’.
“She asked why, and I said ‘she’s going to go in a minute’. She said she wanted to stay.
“Sophia-Rae’s breathing went fast, then she just stopped.
“She breathed again and my daughter got excited, I said ‘no Jessica, she’s gone babe’.”
Following Sophia-Rae’s death, the family have been overwhelmed by support with a GoFundMe page being set up to help them financially at a difficult time.
Her image was also displayed at half time during a Stoke City match.
Rachael added: “It still hasn’t hit me. I know it will hit me when she’s in the ground, that’s when.
“There was noting wrong with her apart from her brain misfiring. Her lungs were fine, her heart was fine, her hearing was perfect.
“I know she’s passed away. It’s unfair, but it’s one of those things isn’t it? It’s genetic, you can’t do anything.
“I’ve still got her bedroom. I’m not moving that. I’ve just got to put all her clothes away.”
The rest of the family including Sophia-Rae’s father Ian, who works in security at A&E, have also been hit hard by the awful loss.
“Her dad, if you start talking to him about it he’s gone, he doesn’t understand why she’s gone,” said Rachael.
“He kept saying he can’t wait to take her to school or to see her 21-year-old twin brothers. It’s not happened.
“My kids are devastated. They all keep asking me ‘are you alright mum?’.”
She also paid tribute to the staff who cared for her daughter, saying that ‘they became my family’.
The family have also started fundraising for the hospital and the Donna Louise Children’s Hospice.
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