THE POWER OF A BIG SISTER

Chloe Ingrey-Smith, 39, found her son only needed one person to lift his spirits

- LUCY LAING, JOHANNA BELL

Prepping dinner in the kitchen, I heard a familiar request from the living room.

'Cuggle,' my son Ellis said to his big sister Lily. I peeped in and saw Lily, then four, wrapping him in a hug and I felt a rush of warmth.

It was July 2023, and 'cuddle' was Ellis' favourite word, though he couldn't quite say it properly.

Ellis, then one, and Lily were so close and absolutely adored each other.

Lily was a born big sister, a little mother hen, me and my husband Neil joked, always happy to share her toys and smother her little brother in hugs and kisses.

And though Ellis was a happy boy with a cheeky smile, he'd been blighted by constant illness since birth. Chest infections, spiking temperature - you name it, he'd had it. And more recently he'd been admitted to hospital following seizures. We still hadn't got to the bottom of it, despite being under consultant care and having streams of tests.

WORST NIGHTMARE

Now he'd been sent home from the childminder because of yet another temperature. A cuddle from his big sister was just the medicine he needed, though. 'You always make him smile,' I told Lily.

But when Ellis was still poorly a couple of days later, I took him to A&E. 'Just another viral infection,' I was told by doctors who checked him over.

But he didn't bounce back to his usual happy self like we expected him to. He went off his food, suffered nosebleeds and woke in the night distressed.

'His tummy feels firm on the left side,' I said to Neil, then 42, one night.

I was so worried, but Neil tried to reassure me.

'Could be constipation,' he said.