Parents in 50km walk in memory of 16-month-old boy

The parents of a 16-month-old boy who died suddenly in his sleep are set to take on a 50km walk in his memory.

Hugo and Anya Sousa, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, want to raise awareness of Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) after their son Leo died on New Year's Day 2024.

The couple will take on the Peak District Ultra Challenge with a group of friends - together known as Leonardo's Angel Warriors.

They have so far raised more than £4,000 for the charity Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood UK (SUDC UK) in memory of their "gorgeous boy".

The family had not long returned from a holiday in Portugal when Leo died.

Anya said on New Year's Eve, he and his sister Sienna had gone to spend the night with her mother, and although they all had a slight cold "everyone seemed fine".

The next morning, they received a phone call to say Leo was not breathing.

When they arrived at her mother's house, Anya said: "The whole road was cordoned off.

"There were lots of police stood around, and I don't think anyone knew what to say to us, and I think that's the moment we knew."

She said the post-mortem examination showed there were signs of Streptococcus A (Strep A) in Leo's blood.

Most often, symptoms are mild - a sore throat or a skin infection that can be easily treated with antibiotics - but sometimes it can become more serious.

Anya said Leo had not had a fever, and Leo only showed signs of a common cold.

Anya described Leo as "a gorgeous 16-month old boy, happy, healthy" boy.

In dealing with Leo's death, she said she and her husband had "been on the same page", something Anya said she thought many couples may struggle with.

Hugo said: "We have to be positive, because we have another daughter as well, she was our rock."

Anya added: "We more or less went straight back to work. I think they only way to deal with it is to keep busy, otherwise it's just too painful really to comprehend."

The precise number of such child deaths is difficult to determine,

The Office for National Statistics data from 2020 and 2021 shows Sudden Unexplained Death in Children (SUDC) is the fourth leading category of death in one to four-year-olds in England and Wales.

It is estimated that about 40 children over the age of one die suddenly every year - more than young child deaths from traffic accidents, fires or drowning.

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