As with many good Draycotts, Lydia first joined us in Watford General Hospital. Like many people in Watford General, she couldn’t wait to get home. From the beginning she learned quickly, how to take her brother’s favourite toys and to get Mum to make her food and that the most comfortable place in the house is lying asleep on top of her Daddy. It’s safe to say that if any questions regarding current affairs ever appear in SAT exams Lydia would have been more than capable of answering thanks to watching all those repeats of Mock the Week and Have I Got News for You.

Both of our children have already learned the most important task of making a good cup of tea, Lydia would often applaud herself after each task, a self congratulatory streak that she must have inherited from her mother. Lydia loved music and dancing, she would often stop in themiddle of crying to dance to Lady Gaga or Tinie Tempah usually by pointing to her nanny’s phone and saying the words “Gaga”. She had bright eyes and a warm intelligent smile, she loved to be in charge and would order anyone around, from highly qualified doctors to dare I say it, even her own mother.

Her symptoms were only mild at first and I enjoyed every moment being with her both at home and in the hospital where she was well known amongst the medical staff, many of my fondest memories are being with her in the Addenbrooks Costa Coffee where she loved to watch the people walking past.

In the last few weeks the Pearson disease swooped down on her like a hawk, we did everything we could to try and save her but in the end it wasn’t enough and she passed away peacefully in her sleep with both parents beside her. We loved her from the moment she was born and we’ll go on loving her for the rest of our lives. I’m so grateful for all the moments I shared with her, I’m grateful she’s no longer in pain and I’m so very sad that she didn’t live to see the world through her own eyes and that she didn’t outgrow the hand knitted blanket that kept her warm from the day she was born to the day she died.

May she rest in peace now. xxx