'The doctor had his head in his hands, we knew it wasn't good news'

A mum whose 'gorgeous' daughter died aged just seven-weeks-old has described how she knew something was wrong when a doctor held his head in his hands.

Mum Lucy Knowles, 41, said she and her husband James, 42, were 'so proud' of their daughter Niamh when she was born in July 2013, the Liverpool Echo reports. As first time-parents, their 'heart swelled' when she arrived.

Lucy described how 'everything was fab' when she was born, but at around nine-days-old the parents, from Warrington, found out she was suffering a seizure when she had what they thought was a 'big crying fit'. Devastatingly, the baby girl was then diagnosed with brain tumour.

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Lucy: "Niamh was born with a full head of hair and was absolutely gorgeous. We were so proud when we welcomed her into the world.

"I remember holding her when she was first born and promising her all these things we'd do together. Everything was fab.

"But when she was about nine days old, she had a big crying fit and looked like she'd stopped breathing, so we called for an ambulance. We were told she'd been having seizures and she was transferred to Alder Hey.

"I remember a doctor taking her chart and as I looked at him through the window, he had his head in his hands. We knew it wasn't good news."

Niamh was diagnosed with a brain tumour just a few weeks after she was born and the family made the difficult decision to turn to Claire House for palliative care. Lucy and James spent four weeks at their local children's hospice before Niamh died in September 2013.

Lucy said: "We chose to come to Claire House to enjoy the time we had left with Niamh and it was the best decision we'd ever made. The staff were amazing. We obviously couldn't do everything we'd planned, but Claire House organised for us to take her to Chester Zoo.

"They gave us privacy, but they were there if we needed them. We've got some beautiful photos from that day.

"We bought her a big, cuddly orangutan, called Chester, which we took back to the Butterfly suite at Claire House and now keep next to her ashes. For us, Claire House meant we could be together as a family.

"We had relatives in Australia, New Zealand and California at the time, so they all flew over and came to the hospice. Claire House looked after us and fed us and that brought us all together to make forever memories.

" I don't think I could have got through that time without Claire House and the group counselling." The couple had another daughter called Harriet, who tragically died when she was born at 21 weeks.

The couple now have two more daughters, Orlaith, eight, and Meabh, six. The family want to raise awareness of Claire House and their amazing support.

They will be taking part in the lantern walk next month to keep Niamh and Harriet's memories 'alive'. Lucy added: "Niamh was seven weeks old when she died.

"We can never thank Claire House enough for what they've done for our family. Because of Claire House, we can look back on our time with Niamh with fondness and happiness.

"They helped to turn a bleak time into happy memories. Now we have our rainbow babies, Orlaith and Meabh, they will make sure Niamh's legacy lives on by doing things like the lantern walk for Claire House.

"The girls want to do the walk to remember their sisters because we miss them. They love the fact that it's a night time walk because that's when we say Niamh and Harriet come out, they'll look up and say, 'there's the brightest star, that's Niamh.'

"As a family, we'll always try to raise money to help Claire House because they were so brilliant at caring for Niamh and all our family in her short, precious life."

This year’s lantern walk for Claire House takes place at 6.30pm on Saturday, October 12, you can sign up here.

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