A HEARTBROKEN family say they feel empty after their “much loved, happy and polite little girl” died suddenly with a suspected abscess on the brain.

Leah Robshaw, from South Moor in Stanley, County Durham, passed away in hospital on Sunday just a few weeks after first becoming unwell.

She was only 12-years-old.

Mam Claire Robshaw said: “Leah was a much loved 12-year-old girl who was loved by many people, she was such a happy, polite little girl who adored her two sisters and five brothers.

“We are all just heartbroken and feel empty without her.”

Leah first complained of feeling poorly about a week before Christmas and was given antibiotics for a suspected ear infection.

She gradually felt worse and complained of a headache, and on New Year’s Day was again told it was an ear and throat infection and vertigo.

Then last Thursday she was taken by ambulance to the University Hospital of North Durham and had a scan before being transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.

Miss Robshaw said: “She’d got worse, she was sleeping all the time, had no energy, couldn’t walk, talk and couldn’t feed herself. Her brother had to carry her down the stairs on the 12th for the paramedic.

“At Durham they put her to sleep and rushed her to the RVI, she went for another scan and that’s when they said she had an abscess on the brain.”

Leah had three operations but Miss Robshaw was informed that her eldest daughter had also had a stroke and that infection was taking over her body, and she was placed on life-support.

On Sunday the family made the tough decision to let Leah pass away peacefully.

 

Leah Robshaw with sisters Amelia and Latisha

Leah Robshaw with sisters Amelia and Latisha

 

Miss Robshaw said Leah’s brothers Liam, Jordan, Ryan, Josh and Reece all adored her and little sisters Amelia, six, and Latisha, three, looked up to their sister as a role model.

Leah, a year eight pupil at North Durham Academy in Stanley, enjoyed music and dancing, making TikTok videos and visiting a local park with her sisters, cousin and friends.

Leah’s unexpected death has not only left her family heartbroken but the wider Stanley community has also been shocked and devastated by the loss.

Family friends Dionne and Lisa Railton have started an online fundraising campaign to help pay for a funeral fit for a princess.

Dionne said: “She always had a smile on her face, she was such a kind-hearted and loving girl. This is just unbearable.

“To try to take away some of the stress for the family we are coming together as a community to help pay for extras for the funeral, hopefully a horse and carriage and flowers, so it is a day fit for a princess.”

Miss Robshaw added: “It is really kind of people to help us, it shows how loved she really was.”

Leah’s grandmother Janet Middleton, who lives with Miss Robshaw and the children, said: “She was like a daughter to me too, we love what everyone is doing to support us.”

To make a donation towards the funeral fund visit GoFundMe and search for ‘Funeral expenses for Leah’ set up by Dionne Railton.

 

Leah Robshaw with her siblings

Leah Robshaw with her siblings

 

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