Frankie Beresford never got to meet her baby brother, but his birth just nine months after she passed away acted as a ‘serendipitous’ distraction during the darkest days of her parents’ grief.
Unplanned and unexpected, little Angus’ arrival followed a horror ordeal for Brisbane-based Kate and Duncan Beresford, after their daughter Frankie was diagnosed with Leukaemia in early 2016.
‘It’s just one of those mysteries that you very much just have to give over to the part of the world which we don’t understand – it’s just really serendipitous,’ Mrs Beresford told FEMAIL.
‘We always joke that Angus was an immaculate conception, as he was very, very much a surprise.’
Frankie Beresford never got to meet her baby brother, but his birth just nine months after she passed away acted as a ‘serendipitous’ distraction during the darkest days of her parents’ grief
Little Angus’ arrival followed a horror ordeal for Brisbane-based Kate and Duncan Beresford, after their daughter Frankie was diagnosed with Leukaemia in early 2016 (pictured: Kate and Frankie’s sister Camilla before Angus’ arrival in 2017)
The news came in early December 2016, a little more than four weeks after Frankie lost her brave battle, and at a time when the family were grappling to put the pieces of their world back together.
‘We were about to head to our eldest daughter Camilla’s end of year school concert, which I was a bit anxious about as it was the first time I would have seen a lot of people since the funeral.’
‘When my doctor called before we headed over to the school and told me I was pregnant, I just couldn’t believe it.’
Just weeks shy of her third birthday, doctors first thought Frankie’s symptoms were indicative of pneumonia – before the truth came to be something far more sinister.
Just weeks shy of her third birthday, doctors first thought Frankie’s symptoms were indicative of pneumonia – before the truth came to be something far more sinister (pictured with sister Camilla)
‘You look back and it’s clear to see that all was maybe not well. As a lot of little kids do she would come down with colds and viruses but generally she was a pretty healthy kid,’ Mrs Beresford said
When tests showed little Frankie had acute myeloid Leukaemia, the more serious of the disease’s two main strains, the family’s world was irrevocably altered forever
‘You look back and it’s clear to see that all was maybe not well. As a lot of little kids do she would come down with colds and viruses but generally she was a pretty healthy kid,’ Mrs Beresford said.
When tests showed little Frankie had acute myeloid Leukaemia, the more serious of the disease’s two main strains, the family’s world was irrevocably altered forever.
‘I think in the early days we were hopeful and I just put it aside the statistics and thought this is so individual, whether these kids survive or not,’
‘I just put all my hope into her being one of the luckier ones and be able to fight it.’
However, after a relentless nine-month battle with the disease Frankie passed away in the arms of her devoted mother on November 4, 2016.
After a relentless nine-month battle with the disease Frankie passed away in the arms of her devoted mother on November 4, 2016
After news of her brother’s impending arrival was revealed on December 7, it was initially met with a hint of trepidation from her devastated parents.
‘Throughout my pregnancy with Angus I was obviously grieving my child and although there was excitement about a little person coming along, I was terribly worried that I wouldn’t be able to parent him the same way I had with the girls,’ she said.
‘Fundamentally I had just changed, both as a mother and as a person.’
Now, as the family prepare to commemorate the second anniversary of their little girl’s death – Mrs Beresford revealed Frankie’s absence is evidence even more since Angus’ arrival in August 2017.
‘I often watch Camilla playing with Angus and I really feel the gap, I feel her absence more.’
As the family prepare to commemorate the second anniversary of their little girl’s death – Mrs Beresford revealed Frankie’s absence is evidence even more since Angus’ arrival
In honour of their daughter’s life, the Beresfords will once again take part the in the Leukaemia Foundation’s Light the Night event, which raises much needed funds into the treatment and research of blood cancers
‘I think some people might think, “well you had two children and now you’re back to two” and but we could have a dozen more children and it wouldn’t come close to replacing the one you’ve lost.
‘Sometimes think I miss her more now that he’s around.’
In honour of their daughter’s life, the Beresfords will once again take part the in the Leukaemia Foundation’s Light the Night event, which raises much needed funds into the treatment and research of blood cancers.
‘Since being affected I’ve realised that this research literally stops if they don’t have funding,’ she said.
‘It’s not a case of someone else will pick it up and run with it – without the money prevention, better treatment and a cure just will not happen.’