A "happy and healthy" toddler suddenly died of a rare brain condition after going to sleep with the "sniffles".
Tara Lyons, 37, and Daniel O'Sullivan, 34, thought their 15-month-old, Sofia Lyons-O'Sullivan, was just teething when they put her to bed in April 2020.
But the next morning while trying to get her to eat some toast, the child's head dropped forward suddenly, with her horrified parents realising she couldn't open her eyes.
Production editor Tara and warehouse manager Daniel rushed Sofia to hospital from their home in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.
Hours later she fell unconscious - and devastatingly, never woke again.
Despite never showing any symptoms, Sofia had suffered from a rare and unsuspected brain condition called Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) - an abnormal connection between the arteries to the veins which disrupts the normal circulation of blood.
Last December it would have been Sofia's third birthday, and Tara felt the need to create something in her memory.
She resolved to create a charity Christmas anthology titled 'Written in the Stars', filled with young-adult mixed fiction short stories, written by a host of noteworthy authors, to raise awareness of the devastating condition.
Despite Tara suffering with some gestational diabetes through her pregnancy, from the moment Sofia was born, there were never any problems.
"She was such a lovely and happy baby," Tara said.
"Over the year and a half of her life, she met all her milestones and her weight was fine.
"She was crawling, walking and saying a few words and had never been to hospital."
Sofia was usually busy making those around her smile or making mischief with her older brother, Leo.
Tara said: "She was so beautiful and gentle and she always had her wispy hair pulled into a little 'Bam Bam' ponytail.
"Even though some people don't think they have personalities at that age, she really did - she was so funny and cheeky and sassy.
"She was the biggest Moana fan, she would sit and watch the whole film and screw up her face at the bad character or smile with the good characters.
"If she ever spotted Leo with the Milky Ways, she would be right after him for them. Whenever I watch a video of Sofia, she is always laughing at something Leo is doing."
But on April 7, 2020, the family's lives changed forever.
Tara said: "The day before, on the 6th, Sofia had been fine but she had a little bit of a stuffy nose, so we thought maybe she was teething.
"She slept really well and in the morning she seemed fine but when Daniel came to take her for her breakfast, she didn't want her toast.
"When he handed her to me, her head just dropped forward and she had no strength and her eyes weren't opening."
Tara and Daniel called an ambulance and Sofia was taken to hospital.
She said: "Sofia was sat on my lap and the doctor came in and said that they need to give her some antibiotics.
"But then I looked at her and it was like I saw her take her last breath. I started screaming."
Rushed to intensive care, doctors worked hard to stabilise the tot's condition, but she was still unconscious.
Transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, Sofia underwent a number of tests to understand what had happened.
Tara said: "They kept asking me if she had ever had any seizures or any speech issues or eye issues but she had nothing - they were so shocked."
After a day in hospital, Sofia went in for a CT scan which revealed she had suffered a brain AVM -an abnormal connection between the arteries and veins which disrupts the normal circulation of blood - on the stem of her brain.
After further tests and an attempt to relieve the pressure on Sofia's brain, the doctors confirmed the worst - that there was no hope of survival.
On Easter Sunday, six days after Sofia was first brought in to hospital, her life support was turned off.
"They brought us in the room with a couch and they gave us a box of things, so we would make clay footprints and handprints and take pictures," Tara said.
"Then we sat down and that was the signal for us to hug Sofia and when we were ready, it would be time.
"All I could hear as I held Sofia was Frozen's Let it Go in the background and I'm not sure what it was, but I looked at Dan and we knew it was time. It broke my heart."
Coming up with the idea of charity anthology for Christmas - the same month as Sofia's birthday - Tara requested authors to share short stories and was overwhelmed by the response.
"We had nearly 100 submissions, I was overwhelmed," she said.
"When I told Daniel how many people had sent things in, he was really moved."
The authors of the 23 stories include crime fiction writers Angela Marsons and Joy Ellis and novelist Louise Beech, and there is a touching foreword by Tara, introducing the book in Sofia's memory.
Now due to be published by Bloodhound Books next month, ahead of Christmas, Tara hopes they can help spread awareness of brain AVMs and raise money for The Butterfly AVM Charity and Great Ormond Street Charity.
Tara said: "Creating this anthology pulled me out of a really dark spot, and it means so much to know there will always be something out there in Sofia's memory.
"And if it helps someone who has gone through what we have gone through, then that is amazing too.
"Brain AVMs are not widely known at all and if I can help raise awareness as well as money for two amazing charities, that would mean the world.
"I just want Sofia to be remembered as my Moana-loving, beautiful girl."
You can donate to Tara's fundraiser in memory of Sofia here.
