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high-pitched cry sent shivers down my spine. Doctors said they suspected meningitis.

He was given antibiotics and steroids and seemed to perk up, flashing me his trademark grin.

Leaving Khyle with Lewin the next day,

I went home to spend time with Avayah.

She was desperate to see her brother.

‘When he’s better,’ I promised.

Back at the hospital the next day, I was pleased

to hear Lewin had slept most of the night. But now he was restless, wouldn’t stop crying.

As I held him, he suddenly flung his

Avayah adored her newborn brother

Our gorgeous baby boy There was nothing more the doctors could do arms up in the air. His whole body went stiff.

He looked at me, his face crumpled in confusion. Then his eyes closed and he fell silent. ‘Lewin?’ I cried. A nurse ran in, looked at his limp body and hit the emergency button.

Suddenly, doctors were rushing down the corridor. Someone grabbed my phone and called Khyle.

Doctors took Lewin from me and put him on the bed. One pressed down on his chest, while another gave him mouth-to-mouth. ‘What’s happening?’ I screamed.

‘He’s had a cardiac arrest,’ said a nurse, leading me out of the room.

Minutes later, Khyle was standing beside me, breathless and panic-stricken. Finally, a doctor came out and explained that Lewin had had another cardiac arrest.

‘He’s very poorly,’ he said.

Sobbing, me and Khyle walked in. Lewin had his eyes closed. His little body was covered in wires.

‘He’s squeezing it,’ Khyle said, hopeful, as he held Lewin’s tiny hand.

But then Lewin’s body went tense.

We were pushed aside and watched on helplessly as doctors tried to resuscitate him. Then I heard the words I’d been dreading. ‘Do we all agree to stop?’ said a doctor. ‘Please, no!’ I begged. But there was nothing more they could do.

My baby boy, just three months old, had died.

The next hours went WORDS: FRANCES LEATE, RIA NEWMAN by in a blur.

We made prints of Lewin’s feet and hands with clay.

Holding him in my arms, I wept.

Looking around the hospital room, I saw his changing bag and car seat.

‘What do we do with these now?’ I choked.

That night, we went home. Without Lewin. ‘He got really poorly, now he’s in heaven,’ I tried to explain to Avayah.

‘Lewin’s in heaven,’ she repeated.

Heartbreaking. In February 2019, the hospital called to confirm that Lewin had contracted a virus that led to him developing a rare condition called viral myocarditis, which had left his little heart inflamed.

On what would have been our little boy’s first birthday, in August 2019, we held a fundraiser for the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).

Thanks to the generosity of friends and local businesses, we’ve raised more than £13,000.

Not a day goes by when we don’t think of Lewin. We miss our happy boy desperately.

He was the missing piece of the puzzle in our family, and he always will be.