I felt so alone after my baby died... but finally talking about Archie has helped me

Kym Marsh opens up about losing a child

- BETH NEIL

For 15 years, Kym Marsh was too afraid to let go of her son Archie's ashes. She kept them in a tiny engraved box, which would travel with her everywhere, seeing the world in a way her little boy never could.

Every birthday without him was just a stark reminder of the only gift she could ever give him - to fight for others in his name.

Archie died after being born at just 21 weeks on February 11, 2009. And it was only when Kym was finally able to start talking about her loss in order to help others that she finally felt less alone herself.

Today, the former Coronation Street star also has other reasons to take comfort she has justice after a cruel rule meant Archie did not qualify for a birth certificate.

And, most poignantly, her son will never now feel alone again either.

For Archie has finally been laid to rest with the last person to ever hold him, Kym's late dad Dave, who died from prostate cancer in January.

"I felt that there had to be a time when I let Archie rest," says Kym, 47.

"Fifteen years is a long time to carry his ashes around. They have been everywhere with me - even to South Africa.

"He'd probably have been a terror now, 15 and giving me a nightmare!"