Devastated parents pay tribute to ‘amazing’ boy, 2, who died in ‘preventable’ emergency at nursery

THE parents of a two-year-old boy who died after a "medical episode" at a nursery have paid a heartbreaking tribute to their "amazing" son.

Jude Gerrard was rushed to hospital after the incident on January 14 but was tragically pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

Police had been called to Early Learners Day Nursery on Hawthorne Road in Bootle, Merseyside, at around 12.35pm that day, after the little boy suffered the fatal episode.

His death is currently being treated as unexplained, authorities say.

Today, in a statement shared via the police, Jude's heartbroken parents said: “This is our sweet baby boy, Jude Gerrard. We are absolutely heartbroken and devastated beyond words by this shocking and unexpected loss of the love of our lives.

"I know all parents think this about their own children, but Jude truly was so incredibly special.

"Everybody who ever met him couldn’t help but instantly love him, and he had so much love for everyone too, even if he’d pretend to web you like Spider-Man or wrestle you like Hulk Hogan.

"Our lives will never be the same again, he really was too good to be true and we can’t believe he has been taken away from us like this, with something so preventable.

"He deserved so, so much more. We count ourselves so lucky we got to be his mummy and daddy for two and a half years, even though he should have had so much more time.

“Please respect our privacy as we process and grieve this unimaginable loss and the police continue to investigate what happened to our amazing, beautiful, caring boy, Judie."

In an earlier statement, a spokesperson for Merseyside Police said: "We can confirm that an investigation is underway following reports that a two-year-old boy suffered a fatal medical episode at a children’s nursery in Bootle.

"The incident was reported at around 12.35pm yesterday, Tuesday 14 January, at Early Learners Day Nursery, on Hawthorne Road, and the child was taken to hospital by paramedics.

"He was sadly pronounced deceased at hospital and his family is being supported.

";An investigation has been commenced to establish the full circumstances and cause of death."

A postmortem has now taken place, but the cause of death has been withheld as further investigations take place.