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Dec 9, 2025
'Happy tears:' Family shares heart-breaking and hopeful journey of five-year-old
Dorset Echo
When Sophie and Kyle from Weymouth were told that their three-year-old daughter Skye might not live to see another Christmas, their world fell apart.
Just months earlier, Skye had been a bright, bubbly toddler described by her parents as a 'social butterfly 'who loved singing 'Girl on Fire' by Alicia Keys in the bath, racing her big brothers on her scooter, and introducing herself to everyone she met.
Mum and dad Sophie and Kyle with their children Skye, Axel and Seth (Image: Julia's House)
Then, on her first day of nursery, everything changed.
Sophie said: "We thought she'd had a stroke, she suddenly stopped using her right side, her speech slurred, and within weeks she couldn't walk, sit up, or even hold her head."
Despite endless hospital tests, doctors couldn't find a cause. As Skye's condition deteriorated, the family were told to prepare for the worst.
Skye with big brothers Axel and Seth at Julia's House Dorset hospice (Image: Julia's House)
Sophie said: "They said this would probably be Skye's last Christmas and to make memories while we could.
"I remember all of us putting up the tree and helping Skye place the star on top. It was a really joyful time, and she absolutely loved it, but at the same time it was hard for us to be happy.
"We didn't know we could hit that level of grief. We cried every single day. It felt like we were gradually losing different parts of our little girl."
Skye in hospital with mum, Sophie (Image: Julia's House)
But just when they thought hope was gone, Julia's House children's hospice stepped in.
At the start of 2024, Skye was referred to Julia's House, a children's hospice which provides care for families of seriously ill children in their homes, out in the community, and at the charity's hospices in Corfe Mullen and Devizes.
Skye in hospital (Image: Julia's House)
Sophie said: "We were terrified when we heard the word 'hospice,' we thought it would be all about death. But when we walked in, there was laughter, colo
