‘A little ray of sunshine in the darkness’: The heartbroken family of a scaffolder who died following a freak trampolining accident have revealed his unborn son will be named after him
- Rob Harcourt, 37, died last month after landing on his neck on a trampoline
- After his death, his family revealed his girlfriend Jade Higgins, 30, was pregnant
- His mother Jackie Graves said the baby will be named Robert Jackson John
- Ms Graves said the baby has been ‘a little ray of sunshine in the darkness’
The heartbroken family of a scaffolder who died following a freak trampolining accident has revealed his unborn son will be named after him.
Rob Harcourt, 37, died last month just weeks after being left paralysed from the chest down when he attempted a backflip and landed on his neck.
The family of ‘clever, kind, funny’ Mr Harcourt revealed shortly after his death that his girlfriend Jade Higgins, 30, was pregnant with his fifth child.
His mother Jackie Graves revealed the baby will be named Robert Jackson John – Robert after Mr Harcourt, Jackson after Ms Graves and John after Ms Graves’s brother.
The baby has been ‘a little ray of sunshine in the darkness’, Ms Graves told Teeside Live.
The family of ‘clever, kind, funny’ Rob Harcourt, 37 (left) revealed shortly after his death that his girlfriend Jade Higgins, 30 (right) was pregnant with his fifth child
Mr Harcourt’s mother Jackie Graves revealed the baby will be named Robert Jackson John – Robert after her son, Jackson after Ms Graves and John after Ms Graves’s brother
She said that at Miss Higgins’s latest appointment, the midwives told them the baby was healthy and that when they told them it was a boy ‘I cried and I cried because I know Rob wanted another son.’
The already father-of-four, of Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, spent weeks in intensive care following the accident at a friend’s house in August.
Mr Harcourt, who was father to Leona, 14, Evie, 12, Charlie, nine, and Isabella, three, was treated at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, and underwent multiple operations.
He was unable to breathe on his own as doctors discovered fluid and swelling on his brain.
Mr Harcourt died last month just weeks after being left paralysed from the chest down when he attempted a backflip and landed on his neck
Ms Graves (right) said ‘I cried and I cried’ when at Miss Higgins’s latest appointment midwives told them the unborn was a boy as Mr Harcourt (left) had wanted another son
The scaffolder underwent a second operation there to stabilise his neck, but the damage to it was irreparable and doctors then delivered the awful news that he would never recover.
Mr Harcourt then suffered a cardiac arrest, which led to ‘massive’ brain damage.
In a tragic update, Ms Graves confirmed Mr Harcourt had passed away in her and Miss Higgins’s arms at a hospice.
His funeral took place on Sunday in Wingate, County Durham, and in a eulogy his mother said he ‘enchanted everyone with his smile and friendly nature’.
Ms Graves said Mr Harcourt and Miss Higgins – who she previously described as soulmates – had chosen the baby’s name shortly before the accident.
She added: ‘It truly was a bittersweet moment, this has been the most emotional time of my life.
‘I feel like my world has ended and yet the baby is my reason for living.
‘He is a little blessing in more ways than one.’
A GoFundMe page, which had been set up following the accident, has so far received more than £11,000 in donations from hundreds of people.
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