Coronavirus: Grief in lockdown for family after boy's death

A girl whose nine-year-old brother died months before lockdown has been trying to brighten up her parents' days by painting their garden rainbow colours.

Emily Harmsworth's brother Peter was diagnosed with a genetic disorder as a baby and died on 5 December.

Her mum has a weak immune system so the family from Caerphilly are shielding.

Cruse Bereavement Care has warned isolation can make feelings of grief much more intense as people are cut off from heir usual support network.

Emily had returned to school after her brother's death where she was receiving bereavement counselling and opening up to friends.

All this stopped when lockdown was introduced in March and she has not been able to leave the house.

But Emily has used the time to brightly paint the windows of her house and to create a "lockdown garden".

She did this by painting the garden fence and shed to thank NHS workers, especially those at children's hospice Ty Hafan in Sully, Vale of Glamorgan, who cared for her brother.

Her mother Liz Lewis, 34, is cared for by Emily's father Richard Harmsworth as she has rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia.

She said: "Emily's been keeping me going".

Liz said Emily had been an "absolutely amazing" sister to Peter, saying: "Every part of her day would need to include him."

"From the minute she'd wake up, she'd jump into bed and watch telly with him.

"She may be doing something he couldn't do physically and she'd change it so he can get involved."

Peter was non-verbal, had to be fed through a tube and used a ventilator at night.

He was diagnosed with a a form a form of leukodystrophy as a baby, and the family did not expect him to live past the age of two.

After having an operation on his hips, Peter was in intensive care and remained in hospital for several months.

He returned home but died suddenly while on an overnight visit to the hospice.

"Peter's death hit Emily really hard," Liz said.

"There's ups and downs. Understanding her emotions seems to be the hardest thing.

"It catches you off guard when you don't expect it.

"She gets confused."

Liz said Emily would usually be attending a siblings group at the hospice but was looking forward to a video call where they plan to have a memory-making session next week.

"Obviously with all this going on we can't get that support that's needed. It's quite difficult for Emily," she said.

"We were only just starting to get to the point where we were talking to people and going out for meals just to get out of the house a little bit.

"Emily was having a bit of counselling at school, it was benefitting her a lot. She is still in touch via email which is lovely but it's not quite the same.

"She was also benefiting from being around her friends and being able to talk about stuff.

"Phone calls and texts are not quite the same... she's got a lot on her plate."

Liz said Emily's painting had brought cheer to the family.

"The fence is just outside Peter's bedroom - if he could have seen it, he'd love it.

"He would have been going bonkers for us to open the curtains up in the morning so he could see it."

Emily said she wanted to paint her home to cheer up her parents and thank key workers, "especially the ones who did so much for my brother as they deserve all this".

"It makes me happy to paint in the garden because it brings back so many memories of me and Peter playing and making a mess," she said.

"I'm trying to keep my mum happy every day."