"LEXUS-ROSE, your family was privileged to know you, to have seen your beautiful face and to know you are forever a part of them. They will cherish your memory always."
This was the pledge of Joan Jones, who led the moving tributes to the eight-month-old with the "smile that could brighten anyone's day" at her funeral yesterday.
As reported, her parents Sita Yull and Jimmy Macdougal (Hall), and three brothers, Kade, 7, Billy, 6, and Bobby, 2, of Winchester Avenue, Nunsthorpe, were robbed of their "angel" after she developed suspected meningococcal septicemia.
She died in the care of the staff at the Diana, Princess Of Wales Hospital, Grimsby, on November 9.
Just 24 hours earlier, she had been playing happily as usual.
A fundraiser held at The Nunsthorpe Tavern on Friday raised £3,000 towards the tot's funeral and for St Andrew's Hospice, where she had been resting since she passed away.
Her tiny pink coffin was carried to Grimsby Crematorium in a carriage drawn by two white horses, decorated with pink plumes – Lexus-Rose's favourite colour.
Mourners also observed the family's request to wear something pink, with many also clutching matching balloons and flowers in every shade imaginable.
After Lexus-Rose had been carried into the chapel to Sophie B Hawkins' I Love You Always Forever, Mrs Jones began the service by reflecting on why she had been taken from her family and friends at such a young age.
She said: "There are no answers to that question but let me read to you the words of another mum who also lost her child – an angel wrote down in a book my baby's date of birth, then whispered as she closed the book, 'too beautiful for Earth'.
"When Sita had her 20-week scan and found out she was going to have a baby girl she was, of course, very excited.
"Every time she went to the hospital for a check up, she kept asking 'it's still a girl isn't it?'.
"Lexus-Rose was a very happy child – she was no trouble. She had beautiful big blue eyes and a smile for everyone."
The congregation was invited to reflect on her short life as Sarah McLaughlin's Angel and Justin Hayward's Forever Autumn were played.
As the ceremony drew to a close, her friends and family were also entreated to "talk about her and share memories of her often" so Lexus-Rose will "forever live on" through them.
Further advice and information about meningitis is available by contacting NHS Direct, the 24-hour NHS Helpline on 0845 4647 or www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk, or the National Meningitis Trust helpline on 0800 02818.
