Daniel was my youngest child, and little brother to Hannah, Charlotte and Ethan. Except he wasn’t little! At 14, Daniel was over 6ft tall and blossoming into a fine young man.

He was cheeky, funny and a total joker. He loved Lego, he loved sharks and he particularly loved food. Chicken fried rice was the answer to any number of difficulties!

Daniel was also autistic and this governed his personality quite a lot. He was very direct – he didn’t like going around the houses! We knew what made him happy and what made him sad.

When he told us his right leg was hurting and I found a lump, we were told it was probably just an infection. But an MRI scan showed a tumour was eating the bone.

Daniel started chemotherapy two weeks later, and soon the decision was taken to amputate his leg just above the knee.

A year later, he was doing so well. He was vibrant – cheeky, back at school, doing boxing and walking a kilometre on his prosthetic leg, which he called ‘Steve’. Daniel was the tallest of us all and ‘Steve’ was massive!

Then he told us his good leg was hurting.

We tried not to be terrified, but we were.

A scan found another massive tumour in his leg and, when we found out the cancer was in his lungs, we were knocked for six.

Before going to Tŷ Hafan, Daniel said he’d wanted to die at home. He wasn’t sure about Tŷ Hafan at all. I think he hated it because he knew what it ultimately meant for him.

I was aware of it as a local charity, but as a mum of healthy children, you just don’t want to have to think about it, do you?

Daniel started going to the hospice when he was in a wheelchair because he could go there to shower himself. Having space and privacy meant a huge amount to him. He started to tell us, “I quite like it there.”

He got to know the Tŷ Hafan nurses, Sophie and Adrian, and the trust between them grew. That trust was so important, especially in those last few weeks of his life when Daniel couldn’t speak.

Two weeks before Christmas, Daniel told us he was ready to go to Tŷ Hafan. We knew he was deteriorating but hadn’t realised he was at that stage.

I can remember wheeling him out of the house and realising I was probably never going to bring him home again.

I would not wish our experience on anyone. But for anyone going through our experience, I only hope they have a Tŷ Hafan to help them.

Daniel and his family had Tŷ Hafan to help them thanks to your support. No family should have to live their child’s short life alone. Thank you for being there for families like Daniel’s.