Pixie Belle Wilson

On the 5th June 2009 Miss Pixie Belle Wilson came into the world. She arrived 2 weeks early taking us by surprise and weighed a healthy 8Ib 3 ounces. She was born at home underwater and Daddy caught her as she shot out! She met her Nanny Jo who cut her cord and then shortly after her big brother Charlie and big sister Lola awoke to the surprise that their new sister was here! It wasn’t long before she was cuddled up in bed with Mummy enjoying her first day.

Pixie was a very vocal baby, everyone assumed she would just slot right in and that would be that but in fact she wanted to always be the centre of attention and always got her own way. Everybody was very tired in those early weeks especially Mummy who seemed to be constantly breastfeeding Pixie.

Pixie’s Daddy had been promoted and had been offered a sunshine 2 year posting to Brunei in Malaysia so at just 5 months old, Pixie and her family set off on the very long 17 hour flight to their new home. Upon arrival the extreme heat hit them and Mummy was very worried she had made a terrible mistake. But Pixie at last just fitted right in as if she was born to live in the sunshine. The locals adored her and treated her like she was a princess, they would touch her for luck, take pictures of her, ask to hold her and as the weeks passed when people got to know her everything would take such a long time and you would always hear “Pixie, Pixie” she loved the attention. Her big sister however did not and got very cross when people wanted to hold Pixie.

Not long before Christmas Pixie went on a jungle adventure she spent the whole time on Daddys back in her carrier just taking in the wonderful sights. Pixie’s first Christmas came and the family had a big Christmas dinner with their new friends and spent the afternoon in the sunshine having fun on massive blow up waterslides while family back in the UK were dealing with the coldest winter in 30 years.

2010 a brand new year and everyone was excited about the year ahead and started to make travel plans and things they wanted to see and do. Pixie got bigger and it was very obvious she was very clever and forward, Pixie’s Nanny and Grandad were due to fly out for a visit at Easter and Mummy joked that she would be walking by then and indeed she was! Most days the family went swimming, which Pixie loved, she was a real water baby, after all she was born in the water. Daddy would go under water with her and then she would surface with a big smile blinking the water out of her big blue eyes.

Pixie loved animals, especially the stray cats that mummy fed, One day after a trip to the shop Mummy found a tiny kitten all alone and very thin so she brought him home, they called him Alfie and Pixie adored him. She would pick him up, pop him under her arm and walk about with him and tried to feed him crisps. She went to a crocodile farm and was sitting in her pushchair minding her own business when a man put a massive snake on her lap! I think most children would scream, but not Pixie.

Pixie also had a very sweet tooth, donuts and chocolate cake being her favourite, she also kind of skipped the weaning process, she didn’t want mashed up slop she wanted noodles, rice, spring rolls and all the other grown up food, and she didn’t want to be fed so every mealtime she would eat in her nappy because it was such a messy affair.

Nanny sent her out her first shoes, there was no stopping her now and if someone went to the door she would grab her shoes because she wanted to go too. Every afternoon she went to the park for 2 hours, she was happiest outside especially in the company of other children.

Pixie’s 1st birthday was such a lovely day, she had a party and invited all her little friends and Mummy made her a delicious cake. There were balloons and pass the parcel and it was so much fun. It was a shame that all her family in the UK missed this but they had a flight booked to go back to see everyone in August.

Exactly 4 weeks after Pixie’s birthday she had a slight temperature but was otherwise ok, her Mummy thought it was her new back teeth that were playing her up and gave her some Calpol. Pixie went to her favourite cafe for ice cream but didn’t eat much, she played with Lola and her little friend and had a nice bath and then at 7.30pm Daddy put a very tired Pixie to bed. Mummy tiptoed in at 8.30pm to check her and tuck her in, when she checked again 2 hours later Pixie had passed away. Daddy tried desperately to bring his little girl back and the Doctors did too.

Mummy’s words.

The days that follow feel like a movie I have watched, a tragic tale of a family that have had their lives changed forever. Pixie was a beautiful healthy toddler, how could she just be here one minute, full of life and then gone, and why my little girl?

We brought Pixie back to the UK and held a beautiful funeral for her, we have her ashes with us and she has her own little area in our lounge which is full of beautiful things, she is still very much a part of our family and always will be.

After a post mortem and tests the coroner stated that Pixie’s death was Natural causes, they found signs of a slight infection on her lung that could have meant she was brewing for a cold/chest infection but it wasn’t enough to kill a healthy child like her. We have since found the SUDC (sudden unexplained death in childhood) programme and have been in contact with other families just like us that are dealing with life after losing their child.

We aim to hold annual fundraising events to help towards research costs so we can try to find some answers in our lifetime. So far we have raised almost £15,000.

Thank you to everyone that has helped and supported us, words cannot express how grateful we are.