Seven years ago her life was shattered.

She was travelling with her only child at the time, Jack, to visit family from Melbourne in a small town outside Griffith.

They arrived at Griffith at 2am and were greeted by family friends who had offered a place to stay until morning.

“As we tucked into bed, Jack cuddled into me and said, ‘Love Mummy’.

“I didn’t know they would be the last words I would ever hear from him,” Ms Lacey said. 

“Jack woke at 6.30am and I was worried he would wake everyone so I told him it was too early to get up. I gave him a banana to eat and then said it was time to have some more sleep.

“Jack laid back down with me. I drifted off. At 7am I woke hearing one of the homeowners asking, ‘Where is Jack?’

“I turned over and he wasn’t there. I didn’t know where he was. That’s when I heard the words, I will never forget, ‘Tammie, I have a pool’.

We discovered later that the pool gate was faulty, which is how he got in.

“My heart stopped right there and then. I knew where he was. I ran outside and there was my little man face down floating in the pool. I wanted to be sick. Jack wasn’t breathing.”

“Jack spent his second birthday in an induced coma on life support. 

“After nine agonising days of watching my son’s life exist due to a life support machine, with the advice of specialist the decision was made to turn his life support off.

“My beautiful Jack lived for three hours on his own, and in my arms grew his wings.”