A Scots two-year-old has died after a lengthy battle with Tay-Sachs disease.
Rowan McDonald, from Pollok, Glasgow, passed away “peacefully in his daddy’s arms.”
Tay-Sachs disease is a rare inherited condition which mainly affects babies and young children.
It stops the nerves in the brain and spinal cord working properly and is usually fatal.
The child's parents, Deborah McDonald and Aaron Packer had created a Facebook page called Rowan's Journey (Tay-Sachs Disease).
It was made to raise awareness of the condition and is also where the tragic announcement was made by his mum on Monday.
Deborah wrote: "Breaks my heart to be writing that on Saturday our precious boy passed peacefully in his daddy’s arms while surrounded by his family.
"We couldn’t have wished for a more peaceful ending to our baby boys journey here on earth.
"This life was cruel and I hope that whatever is after this life, my boy will be free, running around and playing and experiencing all the things he never got in this life.
"We have been blessed to spend every second with Rowan and his big blue eyes and luscious locks touched the hearts of many.
"Grief feels strange when our child’s life was so hard for him, although we know he’s at peace now.
"We truly feel honoured to be Rowan's mummy and daddy and privileged that we got to care for him until the very end."
Rowan's parents first noticed an issue when he was around six-months old and not meeting the expected milestones.
After a series of tests, it was discovered he had a "cherry red dot” behind his eye, a common indicator of a serious metabolic condition.
Deborah and Aaron were eventually informed that he had Tay-Sachs disease and would be unlikely to live to see his fifth birthday.
They are now concentrating on continuing to raise awareness of the condition which currently has no known cure but affects one in 360,000 children born worldwide
A GoFundMe which was initially was set up to ease the Rowan's parents' financial burden is also available here.
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