{"id":810096,"date":"2026-03-07T12:50:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T12:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/810096\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T12:50:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T12:50:19","slug":"toddler-from-netherton-dies-unexpectedly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/810096\/","title":{"rendered":"Toddler from Netherton dies unexpectedly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Quirk said his son Freddie, who was treated at Alder Hey, “had such a short life but he touched so many people”<\/p>\n

08:48, 07 Mar 2026Updated 08:53, 07 Mar 2026<\/p>\n

\"Freddie<\/p>\n

Freddie Quirk with his dad Adam and his mum Abbie(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n

A Merseyside couple have paid tribute to their 18 month-old son who died unexpectedly. Freddie Quirk, from Netherton<\/a>, was described by his dad Adam Quirk as a boy who \u201cloved life\u201d despite everything that was thrown at him.<\/p>\n

Freddie <\/a>died on Monday, February 23 after his mum Abbie Quirk found him unresponsive<\/a>. Paying tribute, Adam, 28, told the ECHO<\/a>: \u201dHe was just the definition of a cheeky little chappy. He loved life. He lit up the room with his smile and loved everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freddie was born without an anus, a condition officially called imperforate anus. This is where some babies are born without any opening for excrement to leave the body. In people with the condition the rectum (the last part of the bowel) is closed off.<\/p>\n

Freddie had to have surgery when he was one day old and later had a stoma bag fitted, but Adam says his son brushed off any difficulties he faced.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cHe was such a strong little boy, nothing phased him. He was climbing everywhere, running everywhere. He was just a smart, happy baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam said: \u201cAbbie found him on her own. I was on my way to work at the time on the train. I’d only gone one stop and I ran back. I was told Freddie had passed away on my way back.<\/p>\n

\"Fredde<\/p>\n

Fredde celebrating his first birthday(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been a shock for everybody because we weren\u2019t expecting it. He was a bit unwell on the Sunday before he passed, but nothing out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was vomiting a little bit, but he was still drinking. We didn’t try giving him too much food because we didn’t want him vomiting it straight back up. He was still playing with his toys and wanted to be around us, so it was nothing unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family don\u2019t know Freddie\u2019s exact cause of death. Adam said: \u201cWe don\u2019t know how he died yet. His body was only released from the coroner\u2019s office yesterday (Tuesday, March 3). They’ve given us a timeframe of six to nine months for a bit of testing to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout this time, Adam and Abbie have been supported by Alder Hey Children\u2019s Hospital. Now Lydia Pennington, one of Abbie\u2019s close friends, is running the Mersey Tunnel 10K later this year to raise money for the hospital\u2019s charity.<\/p>\n

A JustGiving page has raised over \u00a31,600<\/a> so far. Adam said: \u201cLydia is one of Abbie\u2019s friends from university. They actually live in Blackpool.<\/p>\n

“They already said they want to do the Mersey Tunnel run and asked us if they could do some fundraising. The original target was \u00a3150 and I think that was surpassed like the first half an hour.<\/p>\n

\"Freddie<\/p>\n

Freddie Quirk (right) with his dad Adam and his mum Abbie, with their close friends Lydia and Tom Pennington and their daughter Hattie(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Abbie, 29, added: \u201cIt got raised to \u00a3500 and I think that only took another hour maybe. It’s just really heartwarming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam said: \u201cAlder Hey, we could never, ever sing their praises enough. We got transferred from the Women’s to Alder Hey on Freddie\u2019s first day of life when he went in for surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nurses and doctors are absolute godsends. They made sure to sit with us when we needed it, leave us alone when we needed it. We can’t even think about how hard it would’ve been anywhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreddie had such a short life, but he touched so many people and he loved everybody he met so intensely. Everyone who met him loved him.<\/p>\n

“He had his tantrums but he loved life and loved us, loved everyone, and we loved him. We’re so incredibly lucky that we live so close to Alder Hey and we’ve had that support.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother’s fianc\u00e9e had an amazing idea – on Freddie\u2019s birthday every year, July 1, we’re going to be buying presents for him as normal, but we are donating them all to Alder Hey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’ve done so much for us, it’s only right that we do something for them. We just can’t put into words how important Alder Hey has been to us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adam Quirk said his son Freddie, who was treated at Alder Hey, “had such a short life but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[48885,748,393,4884,105,179,24367,16,15],"class_list":["post-810096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-alder-hey-childrens-hospital","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-health","tag-liverpool","tag-netherton","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116187983310136812","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}