Fundraiser launched for heartbroken family of South Yorkshire boy, 5, who died after swallowing pin

Kyle Lewis sadly lost his life on October 28, just six days after his fifth birthday. He swallowed a notice board pin and was immediately rushed to Rotherham General Hospital, where he died four times. After doctors and nurses were able to get his pulse back for a fourth time, Kyle was then sent to a specialist hospital in Leeds.

After being kept on life support for two days, a brain scan showed that 90 to 95 per cent of his brain had suffered damage. Following multiple seizures and a rise in temperature, Kyle passed away in the arms of his parents, Emma and Mark Lewis

Emma Lewis, Kyle’s mother, said: “I can't even explain how I feel. I'm broken beyond words. It doesn't feel real. I don't want it to feel real. They kept him on life support until we were ready to say goodbye. But you’re never ready are you? Kyle decided it was his time after he had his final cuddle with mummy and daddy. He took his last heartbeat while we were cuddling him.”

A friend of the Lewis’ has organised a Gofundme page to help support the family and raise money to get Kyle's five sisters something to remember their brother.

Mrs Lewis, from Swallownest, said: “He was the double of his dad. Very sneaky, but cheeky at the same time. His favourite saying was ‘it wasn’t me’. He loved dinosaurs. We’ve said instead of him growing his angel wings, he’s grown his dinosaur wings. (For the funeral), we've all got personalised T-shirts with a photo of him and a blue love heart on the front. On the back it has a picture of a t rex and ‘Kyle-saurus’ written on it.” Every T-shirt also has a phrase that Kyle would say written on it.

On their bannister at home, the family have created a memorial including a banner that the hospital in Leeds gave them. Emma attached a dinosaur to the memorial and it fell down to the bottom of the stairs to where Kyle always used to leave his dinosaurs for his mum to stand on. This happened on the first morning after the family came back from hospital and Emma described it as “really weird”.

Mrs Lewis said: “After that funeral, I can't go cuddle him anymore. When he was in the chapel I would go two or three times a week. I would move him up on the bed and I was laying with him, talking to him. It’s destroyed me. People tell me to be strong, it's not as easy as that. I’ve lost my boy and I can't think of anything apart from him at the minute. It’s like I don't know how to grieve. I don't know how to feel, I don't know what to think, I don't know how to act. I feel like a robot. It broke my heart, but he's still my boy.”

Almost £1,000 has been raised so far and Leah Allen, organiser of the Gofundme page, wrote: “To make things a little easier, a few of us wanted to set up this to help give him the best send off possible. No parent should have to bury their child and have to struggle to find the money to do so.”

Mrs Lewis described the staff at the hospital in Leeds as “fantastic”, as they moved all of Kyle’s wires and tubes to make room for her and Kyle’s father to lay with him on his bed during his final breaths.

To donate to the Gofundme page and help support Kyle’s family, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kyle-mark-junior-lewis.