Rex was the youngest of our three children. He was a gregarious happy toddler who attracted an audience wherever he went. He had a smile that could light up a room and a contagious giggle that will never be forgotten. His siblings adored him and were looking forward to growing up with him and sharing their future together. It was early February 2015 and the usual coughs and colds were passing arou
nd nursery and Rex’s older brother had picked up a viral infection and was poorly the days running up to Rex’s passing. However, it was Rex who woke us in the early hours of Saturday morning, hot and bothered and wanting us to comfort him. I took him downstairs and tried to calm him and offered him some calpol, which was flatly refused with pursed lips. He persistently called for his Daddy so Paul joined us as we all squeezed onto the sofa. With his arms tightly around us both, Rex was finally content. The significance didn't hit us until his unexpected death only hours later. At least we had had those special few hours holding him together. On the Saturday morning, we were all tired from a broken night’s sleep, but Rex was still well enough to be jumping off the sofa onto a beanbag beaming ‘to infinity and beyond’ from his favourite film ‘Toy Story 2’. His older brother was feeling unwell again so I decided to take him to the out of hours Dr as I felt uneasy that he didn’t seem to be getting any better and still had a high temperature. Before I left, Rex went down for his daily afternoon nap as usual. When my husband went to wake Rex from his sleep a few hours later we were confronted with every parents' worst nightmare - Rex wasn't breathing. Despite the best efforts of the first responders, an air ambulance crew, and the staff at the Princess Royal hospital in Farnborough, Rex was pronounced dead a few hours later. The support we received from The Lullaby Trust, The SUDC Foundation, family and our local community has been nothing short of amazing and we are forever grateful. Whilst sitting in the A&E cubicle with my darling Rex in my arms for the last time, I promised myself that I would dedicate the same amount of time I would have dedicated to him in life to him in death. I am intent on making our inconceivable unexpected tragedy into a triumph remembering our beloved happy Rex. That is why I along with two other SUDC mother’s are launching SUDC UK, the only charity in the UK dedicated to helping make the sudden unexplained death of children predictable and preventable. Advocacy and fundraising for SUDC is key. SUDC is such an under-researched area, and anything we can do to stop another toddler from suffering the same fate, as our beloved Rex is a positive. Always remembering Rex, a little boy who wants to make a difference to make SUDC predictable and preventable
www.sudc.org/rex
WHAT IS SUDC? Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) occurs in children beyond the age of twelve months. The cause of death remains unexplained after thorough case investigation including: examination of the child and family’s medical history. SUDC is a diagnosis of exclusion, in other words, a diagnosis of SUDC is made when other causes of death are not identified after a through evaluation.
