The parents of a 16-month-old boy who displayed typical cold-like symptoms including a runny nose described discovering he had died suddenly in his sleep as their "worst nightmare".
Anya Sousa, 41, a beauty therapist, described her son Leonardo, known as Leo, as a "very easy and happy baby" while her husband, Hugo Sousa, 45, a restaurant manager from Portugal, recalled how their son "always wanted to cuddle".
Family had been suffering from colds
During the days leading up to Leo's death on January 1 2024, Anya explained the entire family – including their daughter Sienna, now six – had been suffering from colds following their return from a holiday in Portugal, leading her to put down his low energy and lethargy to feeling "under the weather".
Anya left Leo and Sienna in the care of her mum, Diane Middleton, mentioning they had all been "poorly" though nothing appeared unusual. Diane settled the children for the night as usual, but by 8am the following morning, Sienna approached her saying she couldn't "wake Leo up".
That's when Anya said her mum discovered Leo "not breathing and cold" so she immediately called the emergency services, who instructed her to perform CPR. Anya and Hugo received the call and, within the 10-minute journey, Leo had already been put in an ambulance. Hugo said they were "not prepared" to see their dead son and Anya added that their "whole world changed" from that day.
Post-mortem found Strep A
A full post-mortem examination in May 2024 showed there were signs of Streptococcus A (Strep A) in Leo's blood. Symptoms of Strep A are most commonly mild – including flu-like symptoms, a sore throat and a rash – but sometimes it can become more serious, according to the NHS.
After Leo's death, Anya and Hugo raised more than £10,000 for the charity Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC UK) through a 50km Ultra Challenge Walk in the Peak District on July 4 2026.
Anya said: "The last thing you expect is to find your child dead in the morning. Now, usually my daughter's awake before us, but on occasion, she's still asleep in bed. The walk up to her bedroom is horrendous even today because you're not going up to wake her up with kisses and cuddles, you're going up to see if she's still alive. No parents should have to do that."
Leo's birth and health
The parents said Anya's pregnancy with Leo and birth on August 15 2022 were "absolutely fine" with "no issues or problems". Anya, from Sheffield, said Leo picked up a staph infection within a couple of months of his birth that required antibiotics and led to eczema that made his skin itchy and red, but it "never bothered" her son and he was generally a "happy baby".
In December 2023, the family went on a Christmas holiday to Portugal and got back two days before New Year's Eve. After the holiday, Anya said they were all tired and had cold-like symptoms. On New Year's Eve, they went to the park and Anya noticed Leo was "a bit quiet" before they came home. Hugo was playing hide and seek with Leo until he had to go to work at 3pm as a restaurant manager.
He shared his last memory of his son: "He was just lying on the living room floor, playing. It was just like any other day."
The night of Leo's death
That night, Anya said Leo vomited after dinner but that this was not out of the ordinary when he was "so snotty", so she gave him some milk later and he was "absolutely fine". Anya said: "Apart from a cold, he didn't have a temperature, he had nothing."
She took Leo and Sienna to her mother as planned, and agreed that Diane would give Leo some paracetamol suspension for his symptoms before bed. Anya explained what happened next: "Sienna and Leo were sleeping in the same room, so Sienna had gone into my mum's room and said, 'I can't wake Leo up'. So my mum went into the room and she found him not breathing and he was cold. Deep down, I think she knew that he was already dead, but she rang for an ambulance and they told her to give him CPR."
When the paramedics arrived, they took over CPR and Diane called Anya and Hugo to tell them the news, but passed the phone to a paramedic who said Leo was not breathing and they should come over immediately. The parents arrived within 10 minutes to see the road cordoned off by police and an ambulance with Leo already in the back of it.
Hugo said: "I didn't know what to do, so I just froze." Anya added: "I remember being next to my son and I've never seen a dead body before, let alone my own child."
At the hospital
After checking on Diane, who Anya said was in "complete shock", police took the parents to hospital, where they were allowed to see Leo again. Hugo said: "This was my worst nightmare." Anya said: "They asked if I wanted to hold my baby and I did, but then I completely freaked out. And then I felt guilty that I couldn't hold my own baby... it was just absolutely horrendous."
Hugo said telling their family left him "broken" because they were "screaming on the phone". Within a week, Anya said an initial post-mortem examination found that Leo did not have obvious life-ending signs like choking, suffocating or a heart problem. On the potential cause of death, Hugo said: "They couldn't see anything."
Strep A found five months later
Five months later, in May 2024, an extensive coroner's report found Streptococcus A in Leo's blood. Anya said a pathologist told her: "He should have been a lot more ill – there should have been a lot more symptoms."
In the months after Leo's death, the couple's key worker told them about SUDC UK, a charity supporting people with experience of the sudden unexpected death of a child. The parents were offered counselling and met other parents who had been through the same thing, which Anya said was "really helpful".
Fundraising for SUDC UK
Two years later, they decided they were mentally prepared to raise money for the charity by completing a 50km Ultra Challenge Walk in the Peak District on July 4. Anya said the walk was a "real struggle" and "emotional", especially while carrying Leo's favourite Mickey Mouse teddy the entire way. When they crossed the finish line, wearing matching T-shirts with Leo's face on, Hugo said: "I just looked to the sky and said, 'I love you'."
The couple, along with six of their friends and family, have so far raised a total of £10,000. Anya said: "We did this to support other families that are affected. I think the main thing we want to do is to raise awareness, increase funding for research, and for more people to know that support is there."
