A GRIEVING family have thanked nurses and fundraisers for amazing care following the death of their cherished daughter.

Freyja Wood was born in September 2016 with Down’s Syndrome, two holes in her heart, one blocked valve and one thin valve and spent the first eight weeks of life in hospital.

At eight-months-old she underwent heart surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London.

Mum Kelly Wood, of Artillery Drive in Dovercourt, said: “They did an amazing job and she was really good.

“She was off oxygen although had to have a feeding tube put in as she wouldn’t take any food orally at all.

“She was great, rolling around the floor and really happy.

“She couldn’t walk or crawl as she had hypermobility in her muscles but she could get anywhere she wanted by rolling.

“I’ve never known a child so happy.”

Freyja also loved music and had an Ipad with her own playlist of 80s and 90s tracks.

Kelly, 45, added: “She loved music, not necessarily nursery rhymes though row, row, row your boat was probably her favourite.”

“She would bob her head to music.”

The tot would also spend time playing with her siblings, Phoenix, three, Isabel, five, Jasmin, 17, and Adam, 22.

But Freyja’s health went downhill when she got a chest infection and went into hospital on her birthday and she had to be put on oxygen.

She had been due to have a bone marrow test in December but after her already low blood platelets kept dropping she was given the test early.

In October, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia - a cancer of the blood.

Kelly said: “It was awful. I had to ring my husband, Keith, and just saying the words was the hardest thing I’ve had to say.” Freyja was given chemotherapy at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridgeshire but contracted another chest infection and had to be put into an induced coma for five weeks.

Again, the little girl recovered and was able to spend four days at home and have an early family Christmas.

But after going for a second round of chemotherapy she began to need more oxygen, was sent to the high dependency ward and then intensive care.

She had a chest infection but this time she was unable to fight it and she died on January 5, aged 15-months-old.

“They put her on our laps and they took the tubes out and turned the machine off,” Kelly added.

“The children gave her a kiss.”

The family now want to thank The Rainbow Trust, Laura Rolph-Wills from Sponsor a Sibling and hospital staff at Addenbrookes and the Royal Brompton hospitals for their care and kindness.

Andrea King, Jo Cooper and Sam Gourlay from Harwich Angels made special efforts to raise cash for sensory room equipment and towards travelling costs to hospital.

Kelly said: “Thank you doesn’t seem enough, words can’t express how amazing they are.”

A celebration of Freyja’s life will take place at Seven Hills Crematorium in Ipswich on February 1 with a remembrance at the Royal Oak in Dovercourt afterwards.

Donations can be made to ‘The Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity or flowers - just single roses in pink, Freyja’s colour, or orange, for childhood cancer - may be sent to Harwich and Dovercourt Independent Funeral Service, 8 Oakley Road, Dovercourt.