THE parents of a baby who died only weeks after her first birthday have paid tribute to health workers who helped give them a precious year with their daughter.

Gary Haq and Heidi Folland said the heart and lung condition pulmonary hypertension would have killed Sophia Haq within weeks of her birth – had she not received top-class treatment at York Hospital’s high-dependency unit. They said they wanted to thank doctors, nurses and other health care workers who treated her then and throughout the past year, and also the thousands of people who backed The Press’s Guardian Angels appeal, which paid for the unit to be created.

Gary also said he feared that cuts in public spending might mean other parents in the same plight failing to get the same level of care said Sophia, who had Down’s Syndrome, had gone blue when she was just five weeks old and had been successfully treated at the unit.

She had been thriving in recent months, despite needing oxygen around the clock, and had been scheduled to undergo surgery at Great Ormond Street hospital later this year for holes in her heart.

But her condition suddenly deteriorated last month as a result of a virus and then a virulent infection.

They said Sophia suffered breathing difficulties and had to return to the HDU and was later moved to cardiac intensive care at Leeds General Infirmary, where doctors fought a determined, but ultimately unsuccessful battle to save her life.

They said consultants thought she might have contracted meningococcal septicaemia which, because of her condition, she was less able to cope with than otherwise healthy children.

Gary said: “What made it so tragic was that she had been doing really well and had an optimistic future and doctors were pleased with her progress.”

Heidi said: “We had a Christening for her at St Oswald’s Church, in Fulford, in February and then had a big party at the beginning of April to mark her first birthday.

“She was thriving. She was very sociable with a smile that always attracted attention – she was a real socialite.

“We had to carry a pack of oxygen around with us when we went out, but we had got used to that and it didn’t stop us from going to baby groups, which Sophia loved, or doing anything.

“We really want to thank everyone, not just in the hospital, but also the support services out in the community, who helped us so much over Sophia’s life.”

SOPHIA’S funeral will take place at 1pm tomorrow at St Oswald’s Church where she was Christened, with the collection raising funds for the Guardian Angels charity, which is still buying additional equipment for the unit on the children’s ward.

Heidi said she and Gary wanted to do what they could to raise funds for Guardian Angels as a tribute to Sophia.

Any readers wishing to donate to ‘Guardian Angels York’ should write to Guardian Angels York, Foss House, 271, Huntington Road, York YO31 9BR or visit www.guardianangelsyork.org.uk