Walking into the shop, there were Disney toys and memorabilia everywhere. My little girl Lilly would usually be beside herself with excitement, tearing around the aisles, absorbing the magic and poring over princess outfits.
Only this time, she could barely raise a smile. It was October 2017, and we were out together doing some early Christmas shopping.
‘My legs hurt, Mummy,’ said Lilly, then three, with tears in her eyes.
Her legs had been painful for a few days and, after speaking to family and friends, we thought it was just growing pains.
She had a cough and a cold too, but my husband Greg, now 43, and I thought she must have picked it up from nursery, or her siblings – Jakub, now 14, Kacper, 12, Kevin, nine, or…