TEARS FLOW FOR HOLIDAY BABY DARCY

A couple's agonising battle to save their sick new-born baby daughter after they were stranded in Greece has ended in heartbreak. Tiny Darcy Anderson, aged three weeks and weighing just 2lb, has died after losing her fight for life back in Britain.

Grief-stricken mum Adele, 21, said last night: "We thought she had won her battle. I'd finally been able to hold her and she had seemed to be getting stronger. But then her condition suddenly worsened and we lost her.

"She went through so much and it's all for nothing. Why has this had to happen?"

Darcy was born three months prematurely during Adele's honeymoon with husband Shane in the sunshine Greek resort of Halkidiki.

And the Sunday Mirror revealed two weeks ago how the couple had battled their insurance company and hospital authorities to have Darcy flown home.

At one stage the couple, married for only three weeks, were ordered to pay pounds 2,500 towards Darcy's treatment.

They were even told to hand over their passports in case they tried to snatch Darcy from an intensive care ward.

The couple's nightmare battle was sparked because Darcy was born so unexpectedly.

Insurance company Reliant National at first claimed the couple's holiday cover didn't include the critically-ill child.

Adele and Shane were left for almost two weeks with no money and no one to help them.

Shane had to lie on the floor beside Adele's hospital bed and exist on a piece of bread and a bag of chips a day.

The couple, from Featherstone, West Yorks, even planned to re- mortgage their new house before Reliant relented.

The company gave the couple spending money, settled the pounds 7,000 medical bill and paid for an air ambulance and medical team to fly Darcy home. She was rushed to Pontefract General Infirmary suffering foetal shock syndrome.

Despite being given only a 20 per cent chance of survival, she struggled valiantly against the odds before her condition worsened and she died of heart and lung failure last Sunday.

Factory worker Shane, 29, said: "Adele was crying her eyes out, she was hysterical.

"They disconnected everything then dressed Darcy in a little white cloak and bonnet and passed her to Adele. Adele was kissing her and telling her over and over again she loved her. Then she passed her to me. I just clung on to her, holding her tight and feeling her little body getting colder and stiffer.

"My one good memory is that when I went to see her the night before she died, I kissed her on her forehead and for the first time she opened her eyes.

"They were deep blue - and she just looked at me as if she knew me."

As they struggle to come to terms with their baby's death, Shane and Adele are comforted only by the thought that Darcy is at last at peace.

"She suffered so much before she died," said Adele. "At least she doesn't have to suffer any more."

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