Soon after having a baby daughter a young mum slipped into coma after asking her own mother to care for her child.

That was almost 20 years ago.

But Kirsty Box is still living with her grandparents in Minster, Sheppey, and her mother, now 42, remains in hospital - still in a coma.

Now the family has told the agonising story for the first time.

No one knows why mum Sue Box suddenly became ill when she was pregnant in 1988.

She was admitted to Sheppey General Hospital. Her baby was induced and she was able to hold her before she slipped into a coma.

Kirsty was brought up by her grandparents, Patrick and Pam Lelliott. Her mum has never spoken to her.

The family regularly visit Sue in nearby Sheppey Community Hospital. She is in what doctors describe as a "waking coma".

She has to be fed through a tube and appears to hear what is said but cannot communicate.

Why have they gone public after all this time?

Mrs Lelliott explained: "If this makes any young girl think better of her life then we have gained something, because it’s a waste."

She added: "We still have sad moments of wondering what she would been like and what sort of mum she would’ve been."

Read the full tragc story in this week's Sheerness Times Guardian.