Crystal Venus raising awareness about sudden infant death syndrome
Published: 00:01, 12 September 2018
Updated: 14:37, 12 September 2018
A heartbroken mother says it felt like her world had ended when she learned her baby daughter had died suddenly aged just 11 weeks.
Tiny Sapphire Brady was rushed to hospital after she stopped breathing at the home she shared in Margate with twin brother Brandon, three elder siblings and her parents, Crystal Venus and Daniel Brady.
But doctors were unable to save the baby, who died of sudden infant death syndrome (Sids).
Recalling the harrowing morning in July, Miss Venus, 29, said: “My partner said Sapphire wasn’t breathing and handed her to me lifeless.
"I could not believe what I was seeing and started CPR – all I knew was I needed to get her little heart beating again.
“The paramedics arrived and suddenly we were at the hospital.
“There were loads of doctors frantically working on my beautiful daughter.
“Then I heard ‘7.12am time of death’. I fell to the floor in disbelief.
"I thought ‘my daughter isn’t gone, this is just some bad dream’.
“I glanced up to my lifeless daughter, tubes everywhere and machines being switched off.
“My world had just ended and my heart ripped out. Our future together was snatched away.
“My life has completely stopped, I can’t bring her back.”
Miss Venus, whose three eldest children are aged five, four and two, now hopes to raise awareness of Sids, which is the unexplained death of a baby at younger than a year old, usually during sleep.
“Every day is a struggle but my four other beautiful children give me strength each and every day to carry on,” she said.
“I have made a Facebook page called Sapphire’s Neverland Angels to raise awareness of sudden infant death syndrome, to comfort other families, raise money for Cuddle Cots and make memory boxes for families suffering what my family is suffering now.
"My daughter’s life will mean something, she won’t ever be forgotten.
“Eleven weeks in this world is all my beautiful Sapphire got and she touched so many people’s hearts. It’s not something any parent should have to go through.
"I miss her so much but I have to keep strong for my other children. They need me, but I will never forget her.”
At 7pm on Monday, October 15, Miss Venus will be holding a wave of light to raise awareness of infant loss on Margate beach.
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Katie Davis