Rhian Mannings was plunged 'into hell' when she lost her beautiful baby son and her husband within five days of each other.
Through unimaginable grief she was left with two children to bring up in a world of pain and unanswered questions.
Her beloved son George, just one, was gone. And her husband Paul Burke, 33, had taken his own life in anguish.
Rhian could barely function for months. Then a 'lightbulb moment' would change her life – and eventually lead to happiness once more.
The turning point came when Rhian, 42, launched a charity to support others suffering from sudden bereavement, giving them the help which she and Paul never had after losing George.
She and her team have provided vital help to hundreds of families.
Now, eight years on, she talks about finding love again – and marriage – after falling for Craig Mannings, a volunteer who rallied round to help her charity.
Rhian says: “I certainly never wanted or planned to fall in love again, but it feels fantastic. Craig is the kindest, most thoughtful man imaginable. He accepts how he shares my heart with George and Paul, who I’m sure would be so happy if they could see us now.”
Rhian and Craig began dating in January 2017 and tied the knot last April.
She adds: “Craig was amazing with my kids and simply ‘got’ me.
"I didn’t have to hide my anxieties, my insecurities or the fact that I’d never stop loving Paul.
“My kids love having a dad around the house after so many years. They love Craig almost as much as I do.
“In fact, it’s only in the last two years that they’ve got their old mum back because we feel like a family again.”
IT contractor Craig, 50, is a divorcee with two children and had heard about Rhian’s charity through mutual friends.
He says: “Rhian’s story resonated with me as a dad, what she’d been through and how she was trying to help others.
"I believed in Rhian’s passion and wanted to help others going through pain.
“Rhian had this amazing strength but also this incredible vulnerability and openness about her. The more we talked, the more I knew I wanted to be on this journey with her.”
Today their home is still filled with photographs of Paul and George – who are never forgotten.
Rhian’s world was turned upside down one evening in February 2012.
Paul, 33, had bathed the kids and the family settled down to watch TV as happy George crawled around playing with his toys.
Then, without warning, he flopped backwards. Rhian scooped him up and medics raced to the home in Miskin, south Wales.
The lifeless tot was taken to Royal Glamorgan Hospital, but could not be saved.
Rhian and Paul clasped his hands one heartrending last time before he slipped away.
Rhian says: “Of course our worlds fell apart and we just sat holding our little boy, praying this wasn’t real.
"But while the medics had done everything they could to save his life, after he’d passed we were just given a booklet and after spending time saying our final goodbyes to George we left.
“That was it. We were wracked with guilt that there might have been something more we could have done to save him and were given zero support to help us cope.”
Paul was consumed with grief and blamed himself.
“He kept saying that he was George’s daddy and he should have saved him,” Rhian says.
Unable to cope, Paul took his own life five days later. An inquest attributed the suicide to the trauma of losing George.
It was later discovered the baby had bronchial pneumonia and Type A influenza – so there was nothing Rhian or Paul could have done.
But Rhian, a former teacher, says they should have been given professional help in those first days after George died.
She says: “I couldn’t do anything to save George, nobody could. But Paul’s death could have been prevented.
"Somebody should have come to our home and said: ‘I can’t tell you how you’re going to feel, but you need to know it’s not your fault, you couldn’t have saved George’.
"I believe if we’d had the support then, Paul would still be here now."
It was after months of pain that Rhian – also mum to Isaac, 11, and Holly, 12 – founded 2 Wish Upon A Star to support suddenly bereaved parents.
She explains: "In the weeks and months after Paul and George had gone, I’d sit with Isaac and Holly looking up at the stars, wondering which was Daddy and which was George.
"We’d make a wish that they were happy, that other families didn’t lose their dads and brothers. And then the idea came to me."
Rhian teamed up with hospitals and police forces across Wales. Referrals have doubled each year and the charity now gets an average of five new cases a week.
Several health trusts in England are looking at piloting the same system Rhian established across the border to save lives.
She goes on: "It started off as a distraction, a way to find some positive out of the hell I was in, and since then it’s grown beyond anybody’s expectations.
"Before us, there was nothing at all for families who unexpectedly lost a young adult. Our mantra is ‘A knock on the door in 24’ – we’re informed about a sudden death and contact the family to offer support.
“I know those families won’t know where to look – and by the time they do it’s often too late.”
The charity has an app which allows families to dedicate a star to loved ones in a virtual sky, with a version of A Sky Full of Stars recorded specially by rock superband Coldplay.
Paul played hockey with the band’s drummer Will Champion when the two studied at University College London.
Rhian continues: "Like we did after we lost Paul and George, other families can use the app to look at the sky and find their loved ones, with a special message attached.
"Mine to George says ‘My beautiful shining boy, in Daddy’s arms forever’.”
In December Rhian was honoured for her charity work with an MBE in the New Year Honours.
She is humbled but says she would swap it “in a heartbeat” to have her boys back.
Still suffering anxiety and PTSD, Rhian hopes her story will inspire others to know that they are not alone and that they should never give up.
- Find out more at 2wishuponastar.org
