A young mum has relived the tragic days spent with her baby after she died following a desperate battle by doctors to save her.

Heartbroken Bianca Davies, 20, and her partner Jack Brockman, from Canterbury, lost their daughter Florence aged just three months.

She had been born with just one lung and kidney, congenital defects in her heart and aorta, and developed life-threatening problems with her airway at just four days old.

But due to efforts by staff at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Bianca says they were given precious time they might not otherwise have had.

And thanks to a cold room at Demelza House children’s hospice, they were also able to spend five days saying goodbye to Florence and even took her home for a night after she had died.

Bianca, of Heaton Road in Wincheap, found out at her 20-week scan there were problems with her baby.

At 38 weeks she was induced and gave birth to Florence who, despite doctors’ initial fears, was able to breathe on her own.

“There was always a risk she might not make it but she proved a lot of professionals wrong,” said Bianca.

“But she developed problems with her airway and there was a risk it could close up completely.”

Despite initially responding well to ventilation, one morning Florence stopped breathing and became critically unwell again.

“We wanted to get her to Demelza so we could have a day or even an hour without her strapped to a wall with tubes.”

“She arrived at 2.45pm on March 14 and it was everything we could have wanted.

“We invited Florence’s grandparents, her aunties and uncles and great grandparents.

“Our goal was to get her in a pushchair so we had a push in the garden. It was beautiful. She wasn’t an inpatient; she was Florence.

“We did everything we wanted to do that day before she fell asleep at 6.35pm.”

Bianca and Jack were able to spend time with Florence for five days before she was taken away by funeral directors.

“We used the cold room at Demelza,” she said. “There was no rush; we could have that time with her. We had walks around the garden.

“On the third day of her being asleep we took her home. We wanted to get her in her bedroom.

“On the Sunday we were able to have her at home for the night before she was taken away by Twyman and Holmes funeral directors, who were brilliant.

“Of course it’s not the way we would have wanted for it to be, but it was so lovely waking up to see her, going to her room, getting her out of bed.

“I would recommend it to anyone who loses a child to do something like that.”

“Their care was out of this world. I trusted them with my life – with Florence’s life” - Bianca Davies

Jack, 22, is now preparing to run the Royal Parks half-marathon in London in October to raise money for the Evelina.

“All we can do now is try to raise as much money as possible so that parents get the opportunity we did,” said Bianca.

“If they hadn’t we wouldn’t have had that time with her.

“I’d never heard about Evelina. You never know about these things until your child’s life depends on it.

“The way they looked after Florence was amazing.

“Their care was out of this world. I trusted them with my life – with Florence’s life.”

To donate visit the family's JustGiving page.