The family of a Belfast child who died suddenly say they will always remember him as "a happy, loving wee boy".
Lucius Corry was born with two holes in his heart, but had no health conditions and was thriving, having just completed Primary One. The five-year-old, who had Down Syndrome, gave love to anyone who crossed his path.
After taking poorly at the weekend, his parents Joanne and John, held their baby boy close as they said goodbye to him in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast after he suffered a cardiac arrest.
Read more: Parents' heartache as they bury son days after he is sent home from A&E
Speaking to Belfast Live, Joanne Corry, who is from the Market, said: "He was five in December and he was just such a character. He loved everyone and anyone he met, he had so much love to give. He was an affectionate wee man.
"Lucius had a cardiac arrest. We still don't know why he had this. The postmortem is inconclusive, so they have taken some more samples for more tests. It will be months until we get those results.
"He was sick on Saturday, like a tummy bug sickness. We had gone to Funtasia Theme Park with our local community group and he just wasn't himself. He didn't want to go swimming, and he just still hadn't picked up. He fell asleep in the pram, and when he woke up I asked him if he was ok, and he told me no.
"I gave him a wee yogurt, and after that he vomited and after that he was just in bad form and he didn't want to play, he just wanted to go home. He was vomiting when he was drinking juice too. We got home at around 4 o'clock and I phoned the out of hours doctors and just explained his symptoms.
"They told me to keep doing what I was doing. We took him out in the car at 3 o'clock in the morning, because any time we do that, he usually falls straight asleep. He just kept telling us no. When we got him home, we took him to bed and he said he was sore down below, so we thought it was maybe a urine infection.
"At this stage, I said to my husband that we should just take him to hospital, and we thought if it is a urine infection, he could get an antibiotic and then go home again. We noticed he had a nose bleed and there was blood on the bed too.
"When we got him downstairs he was going limp, as if he was going to sleep. I jokingly said to him 'no big lad, you aren't going to sleep, we need to take you to hospital'. I looked and his lips were blue and he was semi-conscious.
"We got him straight into the car and as we came off the Westlink he was conscious, but by the time that we got in the gates of the Royal, he wasn't responsive. We were beeping the horn and had the hazard lights on, and a doctor who was in the waiting room came straight out to us.
"John and him went into re-suss and all the staff came from everywhere. But they just couldn't do anything for him and he died shortly after 5am on Sunday."
Joanne says the staff in Belfast couldn't have done more for their family. While they were working on Lucius, doctors and nurses made sure that they kept checking in on Joanne and John to make sure they were ok.
"When he came out to tell us that it was time to let him go, you could see the devastation in his eyes," she added.
"The staff were amazing, they were standing crying, breaking their heats, when we had to let him go. I don't know how they do it.
"They let us come in to him. We held his hand and wrapped him up in his wee blanket. They left us with him so that we could talk to him, and tell him how much we loved him. We hugged him and kissed him. The staff didn't stop anybody coming in.
"Lucius was just so loved. He has brought so much joy to us and to others, and I share a lot about him on Facebook. Every milestone, I would share. My husband said to me 'your phone is never out of your hand' and now I am glad that it was never out of my hand because we have so many lovely memories.
"He just enjoyed life, so so much and enjoyed everything he done. We can't thank people enough for the support they have shown us. The people in the Market have been amazing, they can't do enough Our house is like a shop with the amount of milk and tea bags we have been sent over.
"The local support group Families Ups and Downs, has also been so good to us. They have been on the phone constantly asking us if they can help in any way. Kids Together on the Stewartstown Road, where Lucius attended after schools club, have also just been amazing. Every member of staff have been down.
"We wouldn't be able to get thorough this without the support of the Market community, Families Ups and Downs and Kids Together.
"Lucius' funeral will be held on Friday 12th August at a 10am mass in St Malachy's, we will be leaving the house at around 9.30am, and then on to Roselawn for the burial. This will be followed by a celebration of Lucius' life in St Matthew's Social Club from 12-5. We would love for anyone attending the funeral to wear something pink as this was Lucius' favourite colour and his favourite colour to say."
The local community has set up a Go Fund Me page, to help support Lucius' family, please follow this link to access it.
READ NEXT:
'He was a character': Family hosting 'event he would've loved' in dad's memory
Co Tyrone boy, 11, thanks Air Ambulance after swift response to school accident
Co Derry farmer overcome by fumes credits Air Ambulance for 'saving my life'
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
