Rhys Davies was just 15 months old when he died, unexpectedly, on May 7th, his funeral will take this Friday, May 22nd at St Mary's Church, Ross-on-Wye.

Born 17 weeks early his traumatic start to life meant no-one expected him to survive but Rhys did, and then he thrived, so his sudden death from a twisted bowel was a shocking tragedy for his parents, Caroline and Richard.

The little boy was known as the 'cheeky monkey' because of his wide smile and endearing expressions.

Despite a life organised around hospital appointments, physiotherapy and night feeding through a tube, Rhys will be remembered as a happy, friendly, sociable little boy who loved being out in the fresh air and getting plenty of attention. He particularly enjoyed attending Mother and Toddlers Group at Ross Baptist Church and the swimming classes for premature babies at the hydrotherapy pool on Tuesdays.

His mother Caroline was just 23 weeks pregnant when Rhys was delivered by Caesarian section weighing just 1lb 4oz.

He spent the next six months in hospital, four months at The Heartlands, Birmingham and then in Worcester. Despite operations and many setbacks, including developing gangrene, Rhys finally came home to Ross in July. He continued to thrive and everyone who saw him was impressed by how well he was progressing. Richard and Caroline, who both work for the Prison Service in Gloucester, took it in turns to care for Rhys. They are also very grateful to everyone who helped them at different times, especially the community nurses Marie Bromage and Penny Thomas

Rhys was still fed through a drip tube at night and often suffered from a swollen stomach and build up of wind. He was having regular check-ups and since January he had been having more problems with a narrowing of his bowel. He was booked in for an operation but then the narrowing righted itself and three weeks ago everyone thought he was set to improve.

Then on Thursday, May 7th, when Caroline was at work, Richard was preparing Rhys for the day and thought he seemed to have more wind than normal. When he changed Rhys' nappy Richard noticed blood in it and decided to take him to the hospital. At that moment the physiotherapist rang and Richard told her what had happened and she told him to call an ambulance. Sadly, despite the paramedic's efforts and the work of the hospital emergency team Rhys died. A post mortem has revealed that he died from a twisted bowel which cut off his blood supply.

This was probably caused by a weakness from a previous operation when he had a section of his bowel removed.

There will be an inquest into his death and Richard said:?"We are happy for them to do tests as it will help the doctors help other babies born early like Rhys."

Richard and Caroline said they will be eternally grateful for everything the medical staff at the Birmingham Hospital did to save their son's life when he was born.

They have decided to just have family flowers at the funeral and ask anyone else who would have given flowers to make a donation to Heartlands Hospital Neo-natal Unit. Donations can be sent to William Bevan and Sons, 16 Old Gloucester Road, Ross.

The funeral will take place at St Mary's Church, Ross-on-Wye, on Friday, May 22nd at 2pm. The service will be taken by Sarah Jones and Richard's brother-in-law, the Reverend Andrew Davies, the Rector of Tenby. Rhys will be buried in St Mary's churchyard as although the main cemetery is closed there are still a few spaces in the children's section.

Richard and Caroline hope the service will be a thanksgiving and celebration of Rhys' life and people do not have to wear black unless they want to.

Richard and Caroline live at Lakeside Drive close to an open green space. At the centre is a bench which has seen better days. They hope to replace it with a new bench as a permanent memorial to Rhys.