Louis Thorold: Mother in baby pram death felt 'emptiness'

Louis Thorold pictured with his mother Rachael hours before the crash

The mother of a five-month-old boy killed when a van mounted the pavement and hit his pram said she felt "emptiness" when she awoke from a coma.

Rachael Thorold, 36, was walking with her son Louis by the A10 in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, on 22 January when they were hit.

Louis died at the scene and his mother was left with serious injuries.

Speaking via phone from hospital, Mrs Thorold said she had "come a long way" but was "also very, very sad".

Mrs Thorold said she remembered her husband Chris being there when she woke from her coma: "There was a feeling of emptiness that just carried on. I knew it was coming from somewhere.

"I knew when I looked at Chris it was true and I knew he hadn't made it."

Rachael Thorold has since been discharged from intensive care but remains in hospital

Mrs Thorold said she was "a little bit tired from my therapies" but it is hoped she will be able to leave hospital in the coming weeks.

She said: "It's mixed feelings of doing well and coping with what has happened."

The planning policy manager said she would continue to need physiotherapy and occupational therapy for at least six months to a year.

Louis Thorold was born at the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge in August

She said Louis' ashes were currently "at home in his bed in his bedroom", and the couple were yet to decide what to do in the long-term.

Last month, Chris Thorold said it was "quite miraculous" his wife survived and that he thought medics did not expect her to "survive the first 72 hours".

Louis was born in August, and Mr Thorold said: "Him [Louis] and Rachael were just inseparable, never spent a moment apart."

Mr Thorold has since set up the Louis Thorold Foundation with the aim of eliminating infant pedestrian deaths, and called for immediate improvements at the junction of the A10 and Car Dyke Road.

Mrs Thorold said: "I think it's very impressive he's decided to do that in this sad time.

"I want to support that, because at the end of the day I don't want to see any more children like Louis lose their lives."

Cambridgeshire Police said an investigation was ongoing.

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