The family of a five-year-old who choked after swallowing a pin paid tribute to the South Yorkshire boy on Saturday.
Kyle Lewis died after three days of fighting, just six days after his fifth birthday his parents said goodbye to Rotherham General.
“He took his last heartbeat as we cuddled him,” the family said in a personal message, adding that they were “broken beyond words.”
After several seizures and a rise in temperature, a scan showed between 90% and 95% of Kyle’s brain was damaged after he swallowed the needle.
Emma Lewis, Kyle’s mother, said: “I can’t even explain how I feel. I am broken beyond words. It doesn’t feel real. I don’t want it to feel real. They kept him alive until we were ready to say goodbye.
“But you’re never ready, are you?”
Kyle Lewis, 5, has died in hospital after a three-day struggle after swallowing a pin board in South Yorkshire
Kyle’s mother, pictured with him, said in a personal message on Saturday, “He took his last heartbeat while we cuddled him.”
Kyle’s father waited with him in the hospital as he breathed his last. The two are pictured together in happier times
Kyle’s mother commended the hospital staff for making room for her and Kyle’s father, who waited with him as he breathed his last.
Speaking to The Star, Ms Lewis said: “After this funeral I can’t cuddle him anymore. When he was in the chapel, I went two or three times a week.
“I would push him onto the bed and I would lay with him and talk to him. It destroyed me. People tell me to be strong, it’s not that simple. I lost my boy and I can’t think of anything but him right now.
“It’s like I don’t know how to grieve. I don’t know how to feel, I don’t know what to think, I don’t know how to act. I feel like a robot. It broke my heart but he’s still my boy.”
A fundraiser has been set up to help a devastated family in South Yorkshire pay tribute to their son after he passed away last month aged just five.
A GoFundMe, which has already raised £1,155 from a target of £4,000, read: “To make things a little easier some of us wanted to set this up to give him the best possible send off that no parent should have to bury [their] child and have to fight to raise the money for it.’
Kyle is described as “sassy” and a loving dinosaur. His mother said: “He was his father’s double. Very sneaky, but cheeky at the same time. His favorite saying was “It wasn’t me”
The family have set up a GoFundMe which has already raised £1,155 out of a target of £4,000, Kyle’s mum said: “He was his dad’s double. Very sneaky, but cheeky at the same time. His favorite saying was: “It wasn’t me”. He loved dinosaurs. We said that instead of growing his angel wings, he grew his dinosaur wings.
Mrs Lewis from Swallownest told The Star: “He was his father’s double. Very sneaky, but cheeky at the same time. His favorite saying was: “It wasn’t me”. He loved dinosaurs. We said that instead of growing angel wings, he grows dinosaur wings.
“(For the funeral) we all have personalized t-shirts with a photo of him and a blue love heart on the front. On the back is a picture of at rex and ‘Kyle-saurus’ written on it.’
Each t-shirt at the funeral also had a phrase Kyle would say.
The family have created a memorial, including a banner given to them by Leeds hospital, which is placed on their railings at home.