BOUNCING her little boy on her lap Samantha Jensen admires the colourful flowers scattered across the kitchen table. “Looks like someone’s been gardening again,” she says. Right on cue, the door flies open, and her three-year-old daughter Scarlett skips in holding picked blooms and belting out her favourite Frozen song before presenting lavender to her two-year-old brother Henry. “Scarlett brought so much colour and happiness into our lives,” Samantha, 27, says.

“There was nothing she loved more than unicorns, picking flowers, listening to songs from the Frozen movies, and playing with her brother and baby sister, Molly. “She embraced everything, and enjoyed meeting new people and learning new things. “I still can’t believe she was snatched away from us so cruelly.”. Days later, Samantha and her brother Alex were getting ready to catch a flight to attend a wedding.

Molly was coming was going with their mum, but Scarlett and Henry were staying behind with their dad Lane. As Lane was working Samantha’s mum Jamie agreed to come and watch the children. “She told me she was going to take them out for ice cream and I knew Scarlett would love that,” Samantha says. Just before catching their plane, Scarlett FaceTimed her mum. “My usually happy little Scarlett was crying,” she remembers.

“She was upset that her snowglobe had broken, but I told her that her grandma was taking her for ice cream and I promised to buy her a new snowglobe while I was away. “And I kept that promise.”. Only Samantha never got to give Scarlett her snowglobe. “After a lovely wedding, we returned home,” she says. “After our plane landed, I turned my phone on, and an emergency alert came through. “It was notifying me of a heavy police presence on the road where I lived, and I felt worried.

“I phoned Mum, but she didn’t pick up, so I phoned Lane but he didn’t know anything. “Then, a flight attendant called my name out over the tannoy, and I was informed that police were waiting for me. “In the airport, I spotted the two police officers, and a wave of dread swept over me.”. Desperate for answers Samantha asked the police officers who were hurt, but they didn’t know and told her to call her local hospital.

“I phoned and a doctor told me that Henry was hit by a car,” Samantha, who lives in Idaho, remembers. “He explained that Henry had been taken by helicopter to a nearby children’s hospital, and told me to get there as quickly as possible. “I was in disbelief.”. Samantha left Molly with Alex, travelling with police officers to the hospital. “I still hadn’t heard from Mum, but I assumed she and Scarlett were together,” she says.

“It broke my heart to imagine how sad and scared Scarlett must have been for her little brother. He was her best friend. “I phoned Lane and told him to meet me at the hospital where I was taken to see Henry. “He was unconscious and his tiny body was hooked up to wires. My baby couldn’t be dead, she was just a baby and she had a soccer game tomorrow. “His beautiful little face was covered in blood. I cried as I stroked his silky blond hair and told him I was there.”.

Then a nurse appeared and asked Samantha to come with her to the hospital chapel. There she told Samantha that her mum and Scarlett had also been hit by the car. Jamie was being treated at the hospital but Scarlett had been killed. “I stared at her, trying to make sense of what I’d just been told,” she says. “The words Scarlett didn’t make it rang in my ears. “Then I screamed. “My baby couldn’t be dead, she was just a baby and she had a soccer game tomorrow.

“I reached into my bag to grab my phone and I found the snow globe I’d bought for Scarlett. “It hit me then, how I’d never see her smiling little face or hear her voice again.”. Samantha phoned Lane who was travelling to the hospital. “I sent his world crashing down,” she says. “The wounded sound that came from the other end of the phone was something I knew I’d never forget.”. Soon after, Lane, Alex and Molly arrived at hospital.

“Lane and I held each other and cried,” the mum says. “When we went to see Scarlett, she looked so peaceful, as if she was sleeping. “We dressed her in her favourite blue dress and brown suede shoes. “We brought all her favourite toys to her, and we brushed her golden curls, painted her nails and read her favourite bedtime story Goodnight Scarlett.”. Need professional help with grief?. You’re Not Alone.

Check out these books, podcasts and apps that all expertly navigate grief…. Later that day the couple visited Jamie.  She’d suffered a broken collarbone, torn ligaments in her leg, and a dislocated shoulder. “When she saw us, she burst into tears and apologised,” she says. “We reassured her that none of this was her fault.”. Jamie explained how she’d taken Scarlett and Henry for ice-cream and a walk.