Worcester family's grief at sudden death of three-year-old

Little Stevie Graham died suddenly in June despite seeming fit and well just hours earlier.

Dad Barri and mum Naomi paid tribute to “an incredible soul who lived life to the fullest” and thanked the local community - and Little Lodge Nursery in particular - for rallying around them.

Stevie’s parents took her to nursery as usual on Monday 21 June but as the day went on began to grow concerned as she seemed increasingly unwell.

“On the night, we made a 111 call and had already been to the doctor, who was not particularly alarmed to begin with,” said Barri.

“Later on I was told to pack an overnight bag so I left her bedroom for 20 minutes to get my things together.

"I was all ready to spend the night in hospital with her but in that time she deteriorated and was rushed to hospital on blue lights.

"I never got to speak to her again."

While the family still is awaiting a coroner’s report to determine the cause of death, doctors have discovered that Stevie had an internal herniated bowel.

“Apparently she’d had this since she was born and the phrase ‘ticking time bomb’ has been used, but of course there was no way of us knowing,” said Barri.

“She was never poorly in her life. She would get tired by 6.30/7pm in the months leading up to her death but we were getting into the hot weather and she was doing lots of activities.

"She was never grumpy, just tired.”

Barri said he and his wife had been told they’d never be able to have children so the arrival of Stevie three years ago came “out of the blue”.

“I’d been in the army for 20 years and when we found out we were pregnant we made the decision to take control of where we lived, so we chose Worcester and settled on the new Weogoran estate,” he said.

“We settled really quickly and Stevie quickly became a proper little member of the community, going to Little Lodge Nursery, playing in the park and going for evening strolls around the area.”

Stevie’s love of the outdoors inspired a litter pick in her memory last month, with staff, children and parents from the nursery coming together at Worcester Countryside Centre to celebrate her life and to clean up one of her favourite places.

“The nursery has been brilliant,” said Barri.

“I wrote a letter to Ofsted to say they’ve been exemplary. They’ve kept in touch and helped us organise the T-shirts and the litter pick.

"They even invited us to come in and make cakes with the children, to stay a part of that community.

“Everyday is a challenge but all we’ve got is her name, her legacy. Stevie’s mum is a really strong woman, she followed me around as an army wife for years so you have to have some resilience.

“But when they talk about pushing that boulder up the hill, yeah, we get up everyday and it’s difficult.

"We’ve been in touch with grief charities but are looking at the possibility of setting one up as we’ve not found anything specific to our experience of losing a toddler.”

Barri and Naomi also dropped small gifts in parks around Worcester on 1 November to celebrate Stevie’s birthday and would love to hear from any readers who may have found one of the parcels.

If you have found a parcel, or would love to send your own message of love to the family email phil.wilkinson-jones@newsquest.co.uk and they will be forwarded