A couple has been left without \u201canswers\u201d after their 17-month-old daughter died unexpectedly with no prior symptoms.<\/p>\n
Ella McNally, 23, and Josh Forrest, 24, from Nottingham, welcomed their \u201cbeautiful daughter\u201d Willow Poppy Forrest on June 4, 2023.<\/p>\n
On November 11 2024, Ella said she put Willow to bed as normal and checked the baby monitor throughout the night but when she called her name in the morning to wake her up, she did not respond.<\/p>\n
After calling an ambulance and performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation\u00a0(CPR), Willow was then blue-lighted to hospital, where it was confirmed she had died, aged 17 months old.<\/p>\n
A post-mortem examination and further testing rules Willow\u2019s cause of death as Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI).<\/p>\n
Ella wants to help raise more awareness and funds (Collect\/PA Real Life)SUDC UK says Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) is the sudden and unexpected death of a child, between one and 18 years of age, which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation is conducted.<\/p>\n
About 40 children in the UK are affected by SUDC each year, and the charity says no one can predict or prevent these deaths, neither parents nor medical professionals, at this time.<\/p>\n
If a child is under 24 months, some guidelines use the term Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) instead of SUDC, and therefore, this may be listed as the cause of death.<\/p>\n
Now, in Willow\u2019s memory, the couple are preparing to take on the London Landmarks Half Marathon in April to raise awareness and funds for the charity SUDC UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were waiting and hoping we\u2019d get answers,\u201d Ella said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut even now, it has been nearly 15 months since she passed away, so she\u2019s almost been gone as long as we had her, and the questions still nag because there aren\u2019t any answers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m doing (the marathon) for Willow, and for any other family who has experienced this, and I know she\u2019ll be with me all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ella said Willow loved dancing (Collect\/PA Real Life)Ella said Willow was born on June 4 2023, with \u201cno complications\u201d and she had no health issues, other than one case of hand, foot and mouth disease, which is a common childhood illness.<\/p>\n
Describing Willow, Ella said: \u201cShe was bubbly, clever and really cheeky. She had everyone wrapped around her finger.\u201d<\/p>\n
On November 11 2024, Willow spent the day with Ella\u2019s parents while she was on placement for her nursing degree and Josh was away for work, and they noticed she had a higher temperature.<\/p>\n
However, by the evening, Willow\u2019s temperature had returned to normal after taking the medicine Calpol.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had a bath and she was splashing around and singing nursery rhymes, so she seemed totally fine,\u201d Ella explained.<\/p>\n
Ella said Willow loved watching Nottingham Forest Football Club matches with Josh (Collect\/PA Real Life)Ella and her sister brought Willow home, read her bedtime stories and gave her a bottle of milk before putting her to bed.<\/p>\n
Ella kissed her goodnight, said \u201cI love you\u201d and put on some calming white noise with her Tonie device, checking the baby monitor several times throughout the night.<\/p>\n
In the morning, Ella checked the baby monitor again and said, from the angle of the monitor, it just looked like Willow was asleep and \u201cnothing was out of the ordinary\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, when she went to wake Willow up, she said her name a few times and she did not respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought she was just messing about at first,\u201d Ella said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think anything of it because I was just stood at her door, but by the fourth time I\u2019d said it and she didn\u2019t respond, I rushed to get her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ella and her partner Josh with their daughter Willow (Collect\/PA Real Life)With Willow \u201cunresponsive\u201d, Ella rushed her downstairs and said she \u201cscreamed at (her) sister to ring the ambulance\u201d before performing CPR.<\/p>\n
Willow was then blue-lighted to King\u2019s Mill Hospital and Ella was transported in a police vehicle, and Ella had to call Josh to explain what was happening.<\/p>\n
Not long after their arrival, Ella said she was called into a room by medical professionals and told Willow had died that morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like my heart just dropped when Willow wasn\u2019t replying because it was very unusual,\u201d Ella explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t really believe it. It was just a normal morning and she was fine the night before.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith my healthcare background, I knew that there wasn\u2019t anything more we could do, but I didn\u2019t want to accept that. It\u2019s just surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ella said Willow had no symptoms before she died (Collect\/PA Real Life)Ella and Josh were able to see Willow to say their goodbyes in the hospital, and they were given a 4Louis memory box, which offers a way for bereaved families to store meaningful keepsakes and mementoes.<\/p>\n
In the following days, the couple and family members visited Willow while she was in the mortuary for around an hour each day, and they read her books, including one of her favourites, We\u2019re Going On A Bear Hunt.<\/p>\n
Her funeral was held in December 2024, when she was buried with her favourite elephant blanket that she called \u201cher baby\u201d, a pink bunny toy and her Crocs, among other cherished possessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a blur, the whole day was surreal,\u201d Ella said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing how many people were there to say their goodbyes, that\u2019s what set me off and it hit me \u2013 this is real.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ella said she and Josh underwent genetic testing afterwards to see if that would provide any answers, but the results came back as normal.<\/p>\n
Ella said Willow was \u2018really cheeky\u2019 (Collect\/PA Real Life)Months after her death, the couple received a coronial post-mortem report, which ruled Willow\u2019s cause of death as SUDI, and they said \u201cnothing was flagged\u201d other than her being a \u201chealthy, happy child\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anything\u2019s ever going to be answered or eased, and to be honest, most of the time it doesn\u2019t actually feel like it\u2019s happened,\u201d Ella said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just feels like the time we had with her is like a fever dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can try going back to normal, but I feel like with grief, it sneaks up on you when you least expect it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ella explained that she and Josh have not moved or rearranged Willow\u2019s possessions in their home, even leaving her snacks in the cupboard and her water bottle in the fridge, as they want to \u201cmemorialise it\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ella said she returned to university to finish her degree, as she knew Willow would not want her to \u201cwallow at home\u201d, and she graduated in September 2025 and was nominated for the most inspirational student award.<\/p>\n
Josh and Willow at Rancho Texas Park in Lanzarote during a family holiday (Collect\/PA Real Life)The couple know they have to \u201ckeep going\u201d and has found comfort \u201cleaning\u201d on each other and family members, and they want to speak out to help other families affected by SUDI or SUDC.<\/p>\n
Now, they are preparing for the London Landmarks Half Marathon to raise more awareness and funds for the charity SUDC UK, with a current target of \u00a33,000, and Ella said it will be an \u201cemotional\u201d day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had never heard of SUDC until it happened to us\u2026 but we just want every child to be remembered and for the message to be put across,\u201d Ella said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will never stop talking about Willow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pascale Harvie, president and general manager at JustGiving, said: \u201cElla\u2019s decision to run the London Landmarks Half Marathon is a deeply moving tribute to Willow\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy championing the work of SUDC UK, she is turning her personal grief into a lifeline for other families.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone at JustGiving is in awe of her strength and resilience, and we\u2019ll be cheering her on every step of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
To donate or find out more, visit the JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com\/page\/ella-mcnally-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A couple has been left without \u201canswers\u201d after their 17-month-old daughter died unexpectedly with no prior symptoms. Ella McNally, 23, and Josh Forrest, 24, from Nottingham, welcomed their \u201cbeautiful daughter\u201d Willow Poppy Forrest on June 4, 2023. On November 11 2024, Ella said she put Willow to bed as normal and checked the baby monitor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n