What happens when a child dies. Children and the Afterlife

My dead daughter told me
I'd have another baby
(Available for press, radio and TV interviews)

Karen Kopec longed for a daughter, but the doctors had advised against it. Then came the incredible message of hope from the little girl she had loved so dearly and lost.

As she listened to the words of the psychic, Karen Kopec grew cold with shock. The message, she was told, came from a little girl who was trying to help her. The description fitted her daughter Kalle, who'd died just after her fourth birthday.

Amazingly, the little girl wanted to tell her mum that she would soon have another baby daughter. Karen just couldn't believe it - she had put all thoughts of another child out of her mind.

She's already had two Caesareans, while an ectopic pregnancy had left her with extensive scarring. A consultant had said another pregnancy would be very risky, as Karen's womb might not be able to hold the baby.

Tears were running down Karen's cheeks. She was amazed by what the psychic, Craig Hamilton-Parker, was telling her, and she just couldn't believe she'd soon be holding another baby in her arms.

Karen had gone to see Craig on impulse, after dashing for shelter from the rain into the shopping centre in Southampton with her husband Stan and their two young sons, Luca and Stefan.

A notice in one corner of the mall caught her eye: Tarot readings given here. She recognised Craig, who'd appeared on TV's The Big Breakfast, and was intrigued. "I told my husband that Craig was very good and I wanted a reading," she says.

Normally, Karen wouldn't have had the cash to spare but, by an odd quirk of fate, she had just found £10 in her coat pocket. She thought she could ask Craig about house-hunting - the family had recently moved from Wales and were trying to buy a new home in Hampshire.

While she arranged the sitting, her husband took the boys for a wander. Neither dreamt that, when he returned, Karen would have such a miraculous experience to relate.

Craig laid a row of tarot cards on the table. But, after a few minutes, he pushed them away and put his head in his hands. "There's something else coming through," he said. "I can't give you a tarot card reading - I'm meant to give you a mediumistic reading instead."

Feeling confused Karen waited to see what would happen. Suddenly. Craig was telling her that there was the spirit of a little girl with him. The dark-haired, brown-eyed youngster was six, but had died not long after her fourth birthday. Unable to say a word. Karen nodded - the little girl could only be her daughter Kalle.

The girl was standing right by her side, said Craig, and confirmed what Karen already knew."It's your daughter and she desperately wants to talk to you."

For two years. Karen had struggled to come to terms with the death of the lovely little girl who'd brought them all so much joy As Karen wept, Craig told her that Kalle would always be with her. ~'He said that Kalle was very worried about my mum. Beryl. because she still hadn't got over the death of her granddaughter," says Karen.

"Craig told me so many things about Kalle that he simply said she'd died suddenly, covered in tubes and wires, in intensive care. He told me she'd had a swollen throat and a bad stomach.

"I was too shocked to speak. I could only sit there, stunned, as he reeled off one amazing fact after another. Kalle had contracted a rare form of meningitis that caused a severe swelling in her throat."

Kalle was put on a life-support machine, but after four days came the grim prognosis- she would never recover. "Stan and I took turns to hold her through the night, and then the monitors were switched off. I hugged her tight as the machines and bleepers were taken away.

"We were heartbroken, but we were both convinced that we'd heard Kalle say, 'I'm not here any more, Mummy and Daddy. Please go home.'"

"Craig spoke of things he could not have known unless Kalle was really there. He described the hat she wore (left) and her favourite wellies (left) ' says Karen.

As Craig spoke gently to her. Karen was even more astounded. "He described the hat with a flower that Kalle always wore, her favourite red boots and her collection of shoes. He knew all about her favourite toys- the helicopter she took everywhere, and her racing car that had just three wheels. He even mentioned Kalle's much-loved teddy bear,which we put in the coffin with her when she died.' says Karen.

Baby Kodie joins brothers Luca, four and Stephan, two, with Stan and Karen. "It's wonderful to have another little girl, but we'll never forget Kalle"

"Kalle went on to say how much she loved her brother Luca and her baby brother Stefan. And she said she would soon have a new baby sister.

"I thought there was no way that could be true. I had been told that I should not have any more children, even though I was desperate to have another little girl."

By the time Stan appeared, Karen was in pieces. "He wondered what had been going on, but I said that I'd tell him when we got home," she says. When they talked later, both found it hard to come to terms with what had happened. But, during another session with Craig, he told Karen that she was pregnant with a baby girl.

Although Karen felt this could not possibly be true, she nevertheless found comfort in the sessions. "They gave us strength because, for the first time. we felt as if Kalle was still with us. Her death nearly ripped the family apart; now we felt we could carry on."

But soon after, to her great joy, Karen found out she was pregnant -and a scan confirmed it was a girl. The astounded family eagerly awaited the birth of a very special baby.

Kodie was born last November. "This is a dream come true," says Karen. "But although it's wonderful to have another little girl. this doesn't mean that we'll forget about Kalle.

"When she died, I was so low that l thought I'd never get back up again. But we're slowly getting there.

"And I know Kalle is still with us. Just the other night.I asked her for a cuddle and felt her arms around me."

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More about this story in Craig's Books'

What happens when a child dies. Children and the Afterlife

What happens when a child dies. Children and the Afterlife

What happens when a child dies. Children and the Afterlife