APPLE OF MY EYE

Ellie Keating, 28, from Bridport, went through unimaginable pain, but there was a rainbow on the other side of it all...

Entering the living room, the image of Mr. Bean was a familiar scene.

Having to watch the show on repeat, it was enough to drive me insane.

Yet, my two-year-old Mason wouldn't let me to watch anything else! So much so, my friend's mum had even created a replica Mr. Bean car for Mason out of a cardboard box.

Yet, that wasn't the only thing that he loved to do.

'See how far you can kick it,' my mum, Dianne, said.

With an apple orchard around the back of my grandparent's house, he'd love to play with the fallen fruit.

Then, when it came to bed, Mason would grab his snuggly sheep, Ewan, pressing his leg to start the lullaby.

No matter what he was doing, Mason made my role as Mummy so much easier.

After falling pregnant with him in early 2017 and having to face the experience as a single parent, he made it as simple as it could have been.

Before Mason, I'd never even changed a nappy before.

Only, with Mum's help, as well as meeting my partner, Lee, I quickly found my feet and Mason sure knew how to make us all laugh as the first two years of his life flew by.

'Nursery today?" he asked every Saturday-he'd be so upset when I told him it was the weekend.

Only, with nursery a breeding ground for bugs, it wasn't long before Mason came home with what seemed like a bit of a cough, just in time for Christmas 2019.

'It's just a viral infection, the GP confirmed, before sending us on our way home.

They could have at least given him a scan or taken some bloods, I thought.

And, with Mason sounding chesty for weeks, I woke up to the sound of his cries.

'Mason,' I How my la Mas ha canc sighed, seeing that he had been sick in the night.

I'm sorry, Mummy,' he sobbed.

You've got nothing to be sorry about,' I replied.