The mum of a toddler who died in the children’s hospice where she worked is to be honoured for her fundraising to help other terminally ill children.
Dr Andrea McKeown and her palliative care doctor husband Alistair, both 42, lost their two-year-old daughter Rebecca in 2009 when she passed away at Robin House in Balloch.
Andrea, from Newton Mearns, Glasgow, had been working at the hospice just weeks before her daughter was sent there for end of life care.
Inspired by their daughter’s love of music and dancing, the couple, who also have Samantha, 12, and nine-year-old twins Hamish and Jacob, raised £120,000 for their fund called Rebecca Rocks which provides tickets to gigs, concerts and shows for ill children.
Tonight, their heartbreaking story features on Scotland’s People 2021: A Thank You on BBC1, which sees host Jackie Bird surprise the couple with messages from Sharleen Spiteri, Amy Macdonald and The Proclaimers.
Andrea said: “Rebecca was a lovely, adorable and intelligent child and we miss her every day.
“She loved singing and dancing and spent hours entertaining us.
“A light went out in our lives the day we lost her but her name lives on through Rebecca Rocks.”
Rebecca died from meningitis, tuberculosis and fluid on the brain, three months after becoming ill.
Every year Andrea, who has just returned to medicine after a 10-year break, also puts on a Rebecca Rocks Festival in the back garden of the hospice.
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