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‘I miss him so much. Every day I used to get a phone call from him – morning, noon and night’
A heartbroken mother is preparing for the devastating task of burying her son – alongside his brother and baby sister.
James Digweed, a 45-year-old dad of 10 from Bootle, Liverpool, passed away on February 10 following what was initially suspected to have been a heart attack.
A post-mortem however revealed the cause to be an upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage connected to a stomach ulcer.
Speaking of her grief, James’s mum, Ann Digweed, said: “Every day I wake up is a nightmare. I miss him so much. Every day I used to get a phone call from him – morning, noon and night.”
“He was a loveable person, always laughing and very talkative. He just wanted to make people happy.”
James had been involved in an accident a week before he died. His mum said that while cycling, he had swerved to avoid a child, resulting in a fall that left him with broken ribs.
On the tragic day of his death, Ann was on the way to his house to accompany him to a hospital appointment when she received a dreaded call from James’s girlfriend, informing her that emergency services were at his home, reports the Liverpool Echo.
She rushed to the scene and spoke to a police officer to find out what had happened. “I asked her, where’s my boy?” said Ann. “I was shouting for James. And she told me he’d died. They let me in and he was there in bed. It was horrendous. It was soul-destroying.”
When James died, Ann was still reeling from the death of her youngest son. John Paul, also known as Johnny, who died suddenly at the age of 35 in April last year.
Ann, who has four surviving daughters and 37 grandchildren, also lost another child – her baby daughter Clair – in 1983. Clair died of cot death at the age of just 14 weeks. The trauma of losing a child in this way meant Ann was hyper vigilant with her other children.
“I was watching every movement – I couldn’t rest,” said Ann. “Clair will never be forgotten. The kids all knew about her growing up.”
The family’s grief was compounded by the discovery that Clair had been caught up in the Alder Hey organ retention scandal. In the 1990s, it was made public that the organs of hundreds of babies and young children had been kept without consent over a period of decades.
Ann says she was told over the phone that Clair’s heart had been embalmed and was informed she could go and collect it. However, due to a dispute over the plot deeds, Clair’s heart still hasn’t been buried.
She has framed photos of James, Johnny and Clair on her fireplace in Bootle, and wants to ensure they are laid to rest together.
“You don’t expect to bury your children,” said Ann. “I don’t like the thought of Clair being in this big grave on her own. I want to put my boys at rest with their baby sister. I want them all to be at peace together.”
James’s funeral will take place at 1pm on April 25 at St Robert Bellarmine Church. He will be buried at Bootle Cemetery and balloons will be released at his graveside.
Johnny’s ashes will be placed in the coffin, along with Clair’s heart. The family are planning to sing You’ll Never Walk Alone during the ceremony.
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Published: 2025-04-12 11:37:33 | Author: [email protected] (Lee Grimsditch, Katie Westwood) | Source: MEN – News
Link: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Tags: #Mums #nightmare #losing #children #set #buried
