A mum who died of cancer just four months after giving birth will have a regional landmark lit up to honour her miracle baby's first year of life.
Danielle Kelley, 30, and her partner Liam, 25, learned in March 2020 that she was pregnant despite Danielle having undergone chemotherapy for breast cancer, which she had been diagnosed with in 2019.
Doctors told the couple the treatment made it unlikely they would have any more children, Liverpool Echo reports.
Danielle’s condition deteriorated in October and she was diagnosed with secondary liver cancer, prompting a dramatic move to deliver the baby early.
Four days later, Everlyn was born six weeks premature but healthy by C-section on October 16.
Liam declared her a “gift” and a “miracle baby” against the backdrop of her mother’s serious illness and the effects of chemotherapy.
In the following months Danielle, from Widnes, developed sepsis and pneumonia and she was admitted to hospital over Christmas, and it was discovered that the condition had spread.
She died on February 27, survived by Liam, Everlyn and her two sons Alfie and George from a previous relationship.
On Monday the Mersey Gateway bridge will be illuminated pink and purple in her memory.
Her mother Annemarie Jackson, 47, said the pink is for breast cancer and purple a colour “she loved”.
The date is Everlyn’s first birthday and falls only a few days before what would have been Danielle’s 31st birthday on October 19.
Halton Borough Council approved the colour change following a request from Liam’s cousin Phil Mahon.
With Covid still a concern, some family members will be marking the occasion by heading to Spike Island in Widnes and Wigg Island in Runcorn to remember Danielle and to fulfil one of her dying hopes that her story could help to save others.
Annemarie said: “It’s what she would have wanted us to do to raise awareness.
“If we can get someone checked before what happened to Danielle, if it saves one or two people that’s all she ever wanted.”
The bridge illumination also falls less than a week before Breast Cancer Now's Wear It Pink day.
