"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light..."

On Saturday 15th December 2018, our lives changed forever.

Whilst walking home from work shortly after 9pm, Emily was devastatingly the victim of a fatal hit and run car accident.

After a brave battle for her life, we sadly said "goodnight" on Wednesday 19th December 2018.

~

Emily was the most hardworking, and fiercely loyal person I think I’ve ever known. She attended college on a Monday, helped in a local primary school Tuesday – Friday whilst completing an apprenticeship to become a Level 3 Early Years Educator, and then worked most of her weekend in The Range. It is difficult to fathom how many lives she touched with her gentle nature, beautiful smile, and infectious laugh!

It wasn’t just young people Emily was passionate about. Emily also had a deep love for animals – mainly giraffes! Back in 2006 just before her 7th Birthday, we had to have a news black-out in our family homes whenever Emily was around, to avoid her discovering the devastating news that a fire had taken the lives of 3 giraffes at Paignton Zoo! To this day, I believe we were successful in keeping that from her.

Emily's passion for giraffes is why we have chosen as a family to donate any money given in Emily's memory, to the Giraffe House at Paignton Zoo.