The heartbroken mum of a terminally-ill baby whose pet dogs refused to leave her side has spoken of her tragic daughter's final moments.
In a blog post entitled 'Goodbye Nora', Mary Hall movingly described how her "sweet baby" passed away as she "sighed a little sigh and breathed the breath that was her last".
Mirror Online previously reported how the family's faithful basset hounds had refused to leave stricken Nora's side after she suffered a massive stroke on April 6.
And her final moments were no different, as the dogs remained with her until the end.
Mary wrote: "She died with her puppies at her feet and while being held close in the arms of her parents as they sang to her and caressed her and told her how very much they loved her.
"She went without pain or fear.
Five-month-old Nora died a day after her great-grandma whose life-support was turned off, the blog post revealed.
The piece said the relative, named as Marilyn, "would be there in heaven, waiting for her with open arms".
Mary continued: "We have returned home, to the place that is filled with so many happy memories of being a family with our Nora.
"Now, it feels so empty and alone. We feel like we are in a bad dream.
"We ache so much for our baby girl... We are so broken hearted; we never knew it was possible to hurt this much."
The grieving mum said her daughter was now "free from tubes and tests and pokes and procedures, but she has taken a large chunk of our hearts with her".
Nora, who was born prematurely, had a rare genetic condition which meant she had tiny blood vessels and Mary said medics had "never seen anything like her condition before".
The blog post concluded with the words: "We love you, peanut.
"Rest now, and watch over us until we can be together and hear your laugh and hug you and kiss you and hold you again."
