Mum's last photo with son who 'sacrificed himself' for her

A brave mum has shared the heart-breaking last photo of her 'warrior' son after she was able to spent a few days with his body following his death.

In the picture, little Daniel Farbrace's mum Ali Farbrace can be seen tenderly kissing her son on the forehead while his body lies tucked up peacefully in bed

The 21-month-old’s dad Dan, 38, likened the moment to a 'warrior being laid to rest'.

Little Daniel tragically died on June 19, after contracting parainfluenza while battling acute myloid leukaemia for the second time.

Ali says the couple were determined to share the picture to show how their only child's legacy goes on after he 'sacrificed' himself - saving them from making the crushing decision to turn off his life support.

"His last act was to save us,” 35-year-old Ali, from Kent in the UK, says.

"When people say things like 'sorry for your loss' I don't really like that. He never lost at anything – we think he sacrificed himself for us.

"He's made it a lot easier for us. My feeling was that I wanted him to have quality of life, but it was stacking up against him, it wasn't fair. We just didn't want him to suffer.

"If we had had to make the decision to turn the machine off then we would never have forgiven ourselves. I do think he has saved us from that but that was Daniel, he gave so much and did it with such grace.

Daniel had been on life support for nine days before he passed away.

"I got to carry him across the corridor to the hospital cold room, which was an honour,” Ali says.

The picture was taken as the family came to the end of their stay at Demelza Children's Hospice in Kent, where Ali said they made memories as Daniel rested in one of their cold bedrooms from June 19 to June 26.

After Daniel died, Ali and Dan even brought him home for their last moments together before his 'celebratory' funeral the next day.

"It's quite hard coping with death, he was still our baby,” Ali says.

"We shared that picture to show the story goes on after death. People have been so supportive.

"It would have broken us to go home straight away with nothing. To spend that time with Daniel was lovely.

"We sang, and talked to him and read to him. We got so much more time. I didn't want to leave him on his own. He was so beautiful. It was so nice to see him without the tubes.

"Our friends got to come and visit too, and we really got to say goodbye.”

The brave mum says her little boy was a fighter from the very beginning, having been born on September 29, 2015, at the legal abortion limit of 26 weeks.

"When he was born he had to be resuscitated and was on a ventilator for 16 days,” she says.

"He did really well. We got him home the week before Christmas and we kind of started to enjoy life.

"Then in April 2016 he just started to develop pin prick marks on his skin. Being a nurse I thought it could be clotting.

"They initially thought it could be a viral rash, but then it starting getting worse with lumps.

"We were worried about him."

After being admitted to hospital in April 2016, the heartbroken parents were told their son had leukaemia, but that he had a 68 to 72 per cent chance of survival.

After four courses of chemotherapy Ali says Daniel was pulling through and even got home for his first birthday.

But just seven months later, in April 2017, Ali says they were devastated to discover the leukaemia had returned, and that Daniel had also developed a lump in his brain.

Despite numerous chemotherapy treatments to tackle the leukaemia that was now in his blood and bone marrow, Daniel tragically contracted parainfluenza in June 2017, and was unable to fight off the infection, spending nine days on life support before he passed away.

And now Ali and Dan want to keep their son's legacy alive by raising awareness about blood and bone marrow donation.

"He's helped to raise over AU$42K for charity so far.

"We just want to get the message out about donating blood and bone marrow transplant now.

"Sometimes Daniel had to wait 12 hours for transfusions. But he would have died a long time ago if it hadn't have been for donors.

"We just want people to keep on supporting it."

- With reporting by Caters News

Want more celebrity, entertainment and lifestyle news? Follow Be on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram