A DISTRAUGHT mum spoke of her battle to get over her daughter's death and said: "There isn't a day goes by when I don't want her back."

Amy Allen passed away from Batten's Disease five months ago after losing her lifelong fight against the genetic illness.

Amy's mum Debbie said the loss has struck her so hard she has only visited her "little star's" grave once.

She added: "I went a few weeks ago. I started crying and couldn't function as a person. I couldn't stop crying. Everyone says it will get easier but I'm still waiting."

Amy gradually lost her mobility, sight and most of her hearing after being diagnosed at 18 months. She died in Lancashire hospice Derian House, where she is buried, aged nine and unable to move.

She left behind her mum, her dad Steve, 35, and sister Katee, seven, and Jack, six.

Debbie, 40, of Southworth Street, Blackburn, said: "It was devastating. Even though we knew it would happen, it still came as a shock.

"It's the little things I miss. Amy just being there. She was always spread out on the settee, everyone had to sit on the floor. She was happy and smiling. Some people say she had no quality of life, but this isn't true.

"It's so hard and the little ones miss her. They talk about her and ask: 'Are you alright mum, are you going to cry too?'"

Debbie said the time after Amy's death would have been unbearable if it was not for the people at Derian House.

"They have been wonderful. They ring you and call round out of the blue and listen. I don't know what I'd have done without them.

"Sometimes it's hard to talk to family and friends, sometimes they don't know what to say. They're great but they don't know what it's like and they treat me with kid gloves. Until you go through it yourself you don't know what it is truly like."

Pat Hood, of Derian House, Chorley, said the hospice for seriously ill children has a bereavement programme designed to help families. She said: "We do home visits and have groups called Stepping Stone that meet once a month for parents and Pebbles for children. They help families talk about issues."

Amy attended the Dame Evelyn Fox special school in Blackmoor and Newfield special school. Staff at the Ivy pub, Infirmary Street, Blackburn, near the family's home, continue to raise thousands of pounds for Derian House.