THE family of a four month old baby who died suddenly will be planting a tree in his memory.
Deena Heys 36, and Michael Dawes, 34 of Barrowford, will also be putting a plaque down at the Sparrow Hawk pub in Fence next week, in memory of their son Christopher Dawes.
Christopher, who was diagnosed with a heart murmur at eight weeks old, died in his sleep at home on Sunday September 23 after being ill with a chesty cough, which had resulted in him spending some time in Burnley General Hospital.
His parents realised something was wrong with him weeks before his death but said doctors told them that there was nothing to worry about.
They are now waiting for an inquest, after toxicology tests are carried out, to tell them if more could have been done to help him after claiming medical staff failed to listen to their concerns.
Miss Heys, a chef at Big Window, Burnley, lives in Nora Street, Barrowford, with partner Michael and their two other sons Jack, 16 and Zak, 14.
She said:"We wanted to plant a tree in his memory so that we would have somewhere to go and remember him.
"The plaque will have an inscription on. We haven't decided what to write yet but it will also have foot prints on it."
"We decided to have a tree at the Sparrow Hawk because Michael is an executive chef there.
"Christopher was a really happy, bubbly boy, he was very playful, he was born healthy and when we found out about his heart murmur we were told that it was nothing to worry about."
Christopher developed a chesty cough in August and his parents took him to see seven different doctors at St Peter's Health Centre, Burnley and at Nelson Health Centre.
She added:"We knew that something wasn't right with him, he was coughing up a lot of phlegm and would often look like he was choking. His face would turn bright red.
"The doctors all gave us conflicting advice and would often make us feel like we were just being over protective parents.
"We begged the doctors to give him blood tests to check that he was OK, if they had been carried out then maybe Christopher would still be alive. No one seemed to listen to us."
East Lancashire PCT said it was unable to comment on individual cases but a spokesman said: "We offer our condolences to Christopher's parents at this very distressing time.
"We understand there is going to be an inquest and are unable to comment as this process takes place."
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