THE parents of a twin baby girl from Barrow who was "always smiling" have paid loving tributes to her after she tragically died aged just 15 months old.

Paramedics and doctors were unable to save Hazel Eve Blake when she began to choke at the Debenhams restaurant in Barrow with her mother and twin sister.

Hazel's mother Sally McKimm and father Aydn Blake, of Ramsgate Crescent, Walney, have said although their daughter's life was short, they are thankful for every moment they spent together as a family.

Miss McKimm, 32, said: "We would do lots together. It's one thing that we're so happy about. A lot of the time Aydn was a still a student and he had a lot of time off. We went to Blackpool, Dalton zoo - the Saturday before she died we went to the zoo. They loved the monkeys the most.

"She just loved it all. Every time we had a day off together we'd sometimes just go to the park or the beach or for a walk. We did a lot of special things."

Hazel was one of a pair of identical twins. She was the older of the pair, born one minute earlier than sister Lily.

Miss McKimm said Hazel loved Lily and liked nothing more than to follow her around wherever she went.

She said: "Hazel loved her sister. She laughed at everything that she did. It was brilliant having two and that was one thing that I've found really hard - having two and now just having one."

Initially Miss McKimm's pregnancy was not out of the ordinary. It was only after her daughters were born that doctors realised there was a problem.

The two girls were born with a rare condition called tracheo-oesophageal fistula, where the oesophagus is not connected to the stomach.

Both were taken immediately to St Mary's Hospital in Manchester for emergency surgery to correct the problem.

Miss McKimm said: "There are about 30 cases in the world where both twins have got it.

"I thought they were going to starve to death. But I was told they could have surgery."

Learn more about TOF and how you can help support girls like Lily and Hazel.

The family spent two months living in Ronald McDonald House in Manchester as their babies recuperated following their difficult start to life.

Because of the trauma of surgery, anything the girls ate had to be liquidised or mashed to a paste.

Miss McKimm said: "Hazel liked her food but sometimes it took an hour to feed them both."

On September 12 Miss McKimm was in Barrow with Hazel and Lily. They had just been to Clarks to get the girls measured for their first pair of shoes.

Afterwards they went to Debenhams in Portland Walk for lunch. As they were eating Miss McKimm noticed Hazel was in some difficulty.

She said: "I realised she was really struggling, so I shouted for help - 'Could someone please help me?'

"Lots of people ran over - there was a man and a lady - they seemed to really know what they were doing. They must have had first aid training.

"I was in such a state I asked them if they would try for me.

"By this point a lady who worked at Debenhams got hold of me, turned me away, and hugged me while they were trying their hardest to try and help Hazel.

"They managed to get her breathing again. I don't know how long it was. I'm sure it was very quick but it seemed like forever. They took us to the hospital."

Hazel took ill at around 1.30pm. Doctors worked tirelessly for two hours trying to intubate and stabilise her. At 3.30pm doctors told her parents she had gone into cardiac arrest and there was nothing more that could be done.

Miss McKimm said: "I've replayed it thousands of times thinking, 'What could I have done?' but, if the hospital couldn't do anything, what could I have done?

"All the staff were brilliant, all the customers. I do know that they did everything they could."

Mr Blake, 22, a teacher at Victoria Academy in Barrow, said he and Miss McKimm are both still trying to come to terms with their loss.

"It tends to be when I'm on my own," he said. "I don't get upset around other people, not by choice - I don't know why but I just don't."

Miss McKimm added: "I'm the same. I'm finding it a lot easier when we are with family and friends. I do get choked up when we are doing nice things with Lily."

Hazel's funeral took place on September 21 at St Mary the Virgin Church on Walney.

Miss McKimm and Mr Blake thanked funeral directors Little and Caine for making all the arrangements.

She said: "It was such a difficult time for us but everything they could do to make it easier for us they would do."

Posh Flowers in Barrow provided a Gruffalo-themed arrangement.

Donations can still be made to the family's chosen charities; Ronald McDonald House in Manchester, Furness General Hospital and the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. They can be dropped off at the Little and Caine offices in Barrow, Dalton or Ulverston.

Miss McKimm said: "Nothing is going to bring her back but all the little things make us feel better, that we are helping other people in the same situation."