Parents who suffered devastating loss of son campaign for better bereavement services

Despite the best efforts of his father John, paramedics and hospital staff, he could not be saved,

His family, from Shadwell, Leeds, are still waiting for an explanation as to why their healthy little boy died so suddenly.

And they are calling for improved bereavement services after having to seek out and arrange support for themselves after their beloved son’s death.

Elliot’s mother Andrea said: “We left hospital and we were given a leaflet.

“The worst thing that could happen to you as a parent had just happened.

“We were left with a very generic leaflet and as soon as we left the hospital, we were on our own.”

Elliot’s death came during a “typical day” when he’d had seemed his usual energetic self.

He had gone for an afternoon nap and was fine when his mother checked him after 30 minutes, but when his older sister Emily went to wake him, she started shouting that something was wrong.

“We phoned an ambulance straight away and I started working on him straight away, with instructions from the ambulance service,” Mr Kerslake said.

Paramedics worked on Elliot there and he was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary.

Mrs Kerslake, 45, added: “It was within five minutes of getting to the hospital that they said there wasn’t anything else they could do.

“When they said that, the world just stopped around us.”

After returning home, the couple started to look for support for them and their other children Emily, now 14, and Oliver, now 12.

“There’s a massive gap when a child dies, for some reason,” Mr Kerslake said. “The onus was on us to find the support.”

Now the family have set up their own charity, called Elliot’s Footprint, to help other bereaved parents find where to go for help.

“There’s a definite lack of access to good quality bereavement services,” Mrs Kerslake said. “It’s about counselling, but also good quality information.”