Grieving mum has daughter's ashes mixed with ink and tattooed on her wrist

Publish Date
Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 1:21PM

A heartbroken mum has created a permanent memorial to her tragic daughter - by having her ashes mixed into a TATTOO a year after was killed in a car accident.

When Sophie Williams was killed in a car crash on February 14 last year, mum Maria decided she was determined to keep her daughter's memory alive.

Keen dancer Sophie was two weeks away from giving birth to her second daughter, Kayleigh. Doctors battled to save the unborn child but could not.

Now Maria and her two sons have commemorated Sophie’s death by having her ashes mixed into memorial tattoos, reports Wales Online.

“I believe everything has happened for a reason,” the 41-year-old said.

“She was taken and she has been carried to a better place.”

Ben, Sophia's boyfriend who survived the accident with a broken collar bone and fractured ribs, is bringing up their toddler Mia with the help of Maria.

“I’ve got a baby myself now and my granddaughter is living with me,” the mum-of-five said.


Maria Williams

“This has broken my heart. It’s ironic, her dying on Valentine’s Day, because we’ll always associate that day with having a broken heart now.

“Nothing will ever be the same.”

The anniversary this year was difficult.

“I wish Valentine’s Day would just go away,” Maria said.

“I have mixed feelings about that day.”

Maria was planning to light a candle for her daughter at 11pm on Saturday night, the time of the crash.

It happened on the A465 Heads of the Valleys Road, near the family home in Tredegar.

Police, firefighters and paramedics raced to the scene, where they found Sophie and Ben’s silver Peugeot 307 and a blue Peugeot 207 had collided.

The 207 driver, a man from Basingstoke, Hampshire, was uninjured but treated for shock.

Firefighters cut Sophie from the passenger seat. She was rushed to Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall Hospital in a critical condition.

“None of us have been able to face the thought of the anniversary,” Maria said.

“Some days it feels as though it happened years ago. Other times it is like it was yesterday.

More than 300 turned out to the funeral at St George’s Church in Tredegar.

“She was more than just my daughter,” Maria said.

“She was my best friend, we did everything together.”

Maria feared the shock would bring on a miscarriage. But baby Sasha is helping her cope.

“When we were both pregnant we would go shopping together,” Maria said.

“I’m lost without her. We’ll learn to live without her day to day but nothing will ever be the same.

“All the time we think about what could have been if she had been here, going to the park together, going to the nursery together, the girls together.

“Now I’m left with two baby girls on my own.”

Sophie and Maria were pregnant at the same time.

“I think of Sophie every day and wear a necklace with her picture on,” Maria said.

The little girls would have been raised like sisters – even though they were aunt and niece.

“We’ve had tattoos done with her ashes in,” Maria said.

“Me and my sons have had tattoos done.

“We had the ashes mixed in with the ink and me and the boys had it done. I have a tattoo of some roses because that’s my favourite flower.”

That is on her wrist. Son Skyle, 15, had a cross and angel with a red rose while Shane, 18, chose drama masks.

“Sasha is nine months now. Her full name is Sasha Ivy Rose Sofia.”

“I’ve got to keep going with two babies here,” Maria said.

“She has brought a lot of joy and I’m glad she is here. Sophie left a one-year-old behind, Mia, so Sasha is like a sister to her.”

She was born in May last year.

“She’s a ray of sunshine, she’s funny and makes us laugh every day,” Maria said.

“Whenever I’m feeling sad thinking about Sophie she keeps us going with her smile and gives us hugs.”

Sophie and Maria had dreamt of pushing their prams around the park together.

Maria doesn’t know what she will tell Mia yet.

“I’ve not thought that far ahead,” she said.

“I can’t replace her family but I will do the best I can for her. It’s very difficult having two babies.”

On Monday, the family will bury Sophie’s ashes in Cefn Golau.

“We’re going to bury the ashes rather than scatter them and we’re going to have a headstone. We’ve not decided on an inscription yet.”

In the meantime a temporary stone will be put up. That will have a picture of Sophie on.

Mia will let off some balloons at the ceremony. The three-year-old believes they reach her mum.

“She likes letting off balloons because she they make her feel as though she has a connection with her mother,” Maria said.

A red rose will be placed on top of the ashes box for Sophie with a pink rose for Kayleigh.

“My son Shane will be putting the ashes in the ground and we’ll let off some balloons,” Maria said.

“It will be a celebration of her life and we are hoping it will be uplifting.”



Source: www.mirror.co.uk

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