Celebrating the life of

10 September 1993 - 27 April 2012

Daniel Smith

Daniel SmithThe swinging tape box, the kind face, the bigcheeky grin and an incredible inner strength... Few if any words can paint a true picture of Daniel'swonderful life, so the pictures in this book help toshow that in the short 18 years he spent with us, hehad a rich and beautiful life filled with love,enjoyment and above all happiness.

Daniel was a unique and special person who touchedthe lives of so many others. Despite all of his manyphysical problems, he would always amaze people withhis cheerfulness, caring nature and cheeky sense ofhumour. He had a big personality that made a hugeimpact on everyone who met him.

2

For those of us who werefortunate enough to know himwell, he stole our hearts and put a smile on our face everytime we saw him.

Daniel was born on the 10thSeptember 1993 at DryburnHospital in Durham City.He was born prematurely with a heart defect andDigeorge Syndrome. He was a real fighter from thestart and even throughout numerous medicalprocedures always managed to keep his beaming smile and happy disposition.

Besides spending time with the family andfriends he loved, Daniel also enjoyed going toPercy Hedley School to see his friends andteachers. He loved listening to music on his HiFiand ipod and liked to sing along when hethought people weren't watching.

Daniel gave Lisa and his family a huge amountof joy, We know he loved us, and he knew weloved him. We made him happy, and he madeus happy. Not everyone gets such a good dealout of life, we were very lucky.

We will miss his smile, the mischievous twinklein his eye and his great personality. We’ll misshim greatly but we have no doubt that he leftus knowing how much he was appreciated,cherished, and greatly loved... by everyonewho knew him.

Thought you said I was going

as a power ranger!

3

4

Party on!

Did someone put

rum in my sippy cup?

5

Daniel’s Favourite ThingsDaniels Favourite things included:Cassette Boxes - Hifi - ipod - HeadphonesMrs Bucket DVD’s - Organ/KeyboardSchool - Lying on the floor with NeishaSwimming at the Alan Shearer CentreMc Donalds - ShoppingPosters/stickers for his bedroom walland buying CD's.

When he was little he liked Teddy Ruxpin - Barney - Blues Cluesand Lazy Town but strongly denied liking Fifi and the Flowertots. He also collectedevery video of Sooty ever made.

Swimming at the Alan Shearer Centre

My mam took me to seethe Paul O’Grady Show I saw Buster too!

6

My bedroom was Fab!

Lying with Neisha

Chicken McNuggets yum!Prawn crackers, rice andgravy, garlic bread and cheesy chips yum yum!

1 Scott Walker Joanna

2 Starship We Built This City

3 Robbie Williams Let me entertain you

4 Robbie Williams ego a go go

5 Shania Twain Man I feel like a Woman

6 Meatloaf Dead Ringer for Love

7 Slade I wish it could be christmas

every Day

8 Aqua Barbie girl

9Wham Wake me up before you go go

10 Peter Grant Joanna

My mam took me to meet

Kevin from Blues Clues

Maverick as a pup

Daniel’s Top 10

7

8

Daniel really enjoyed his holidays and Lisa made surethat he had the opportunity to experience all of theadventure and pleasure that any child could. Theymade several trips to Disneyworld in Florida where heloved to meet his favourite characters, even the staff at the Barney show eventually started to recognisehim because he liked to see the show so often (Wewon’t mention that Jack was scared of the Winkster).

Daniel’s Holidays

Just chillin!

9

One of the times mam took us toFlorida, she had to push my chair, so made Jack carry these pizzas, that were bigger than him, Ha Ha!

Do I look cool or what!

On the plane on my

first trip to Florida

Plates do makegood hats 10 Me and my Bro

11

At Jill’s 18th Birthday with some of my friendsBeep Beep, out of

the way curley

A few of our preciousmemories of Daniel

Fez (Graham)Daniel you may not have been my biological

son but that did not matter. The Love I have

for you is never ending. I will miss yoursinging and the hours & hours that youmade me watch Mrs Bucket! The hours you

made me sit and look for a certain cassette

tape only to find out after half an hour you

already knew it was broken or wigglywormed as you called it. We had someamazing times together. I will cherish every

single memory. Love Fez your Dad.

Leanne (Daniel’s class teacher,

Percy Hedley School)

I will miss my cuddles with Daniel, especially

on residential to Beamsley, every morning

and at 'tucking in time'. Daniel would then

always get a cuddle off Helen too and we

would joke about how he couldn’t resist a

blonde!! I am going to miss Daniel saying

"morning hot pot" every day when he came

into class. He always brought a smile to my

face with his cheeky grin, gorgeous giggle

and fantastic sense of humour.

I feel honoured to have known Daniel and

will miss him greatly.

Lots of love Leanne xxxx

Enia, one of the staff from Leybourne

He used to call us cheeky buggers if we

wound him up. he would also always ask to

go in the bath when he walked in the door

and I would joke that it would cost a fiver

extra or that he only came to leyborne coz

he wanted a bath. He would say that he was

going to tell Dennis. There was a rude

answer once to my question, I didn't

expect it and fell about laughing till the tears

rolled down my face.

Denis (Percy Hedley School)I will remember Dan with great affection. Wewould greet each other every day with"Morning Mush" and at home time it wouldbe, "See you tomorrow, Mush". When weworked on the computer together, he usedto stick his finger in my earhole. Dont ask mewhy! He would often ask me for a cuddle so Iwould give him what I called "a man hug". Icannot find the words to describe how muchI will miss him. He was a huge part of my life.Things will never be the same but I willalways remember his cheeky grin and thetwinkle in his eye. See ya Mush. Denis.

Uncle Darin

I can remember babysitting Daniel when he was really little,

he would love to play with his Teddy Ruxpin, which opened

it’s mouth and sang songs. When it started to sing he would

reach out with his tiny hand, touch it’s nose, look back at me

and then giggle for ages.

He loved reminding me for years of the time the fire engine

came. I was babysitting and I put too much coal on Lisa’s fire

and the chimney caught fire. Daniel thought it was hilarious

as Marie, and I bundled him and Jack up (Jack was just a

toddler) and took them to my Mam and Dad’s house,

where I held Jack standing on the window sill to watch the

fire engine out of the window. Daniel could see the

flashing lights and really enjoyed having his own personal

disco. He had a good laugh. He would say to me for years

after “Remember the fire engine”.

Daniel was so caring and concerned about other people

he would always ask “how are you” whenever he

telephoned or whenever you saw him. No matter how

poorly or whatever problem he had he would still

always ask.

I used to like to watch and listen to him sing when he

had his headphones on and forgot that there were

people in the room. When he noticed you looking he

would get all embarrased and stop. I would say how

good he was and that we were going to apply to the

X Factor for him and he would laugh and shout “No,

No”

Daniel was a real credit to Lisa and brought

happiness to everyone around him. I know that for

every day of his life, he was surrounded by

her love. He was so lucky to have

someone as devoted and caring as her

and that is why he fought so hard to stay

with us.

Lisa, Jack and Fez all made him so happy

and not everybody gets the chance to be

touched by such a special and inspirational

person. You should all be so proud of the

wonderful quality of life you gave him. I just

can't put into words the admiration and

respect that I have for you all.

Daniel, I am so thankful that you were in our

lives, miss you loads and will think of you

everyday for the rest of my life. xxx

Lynn Watson,

Head teacher ,Percy Hedley school.

I am sitting at my desk dealing with

administration associated with running Percy

Hedley School and smiling as I am thinking

about what Daniel would say about this. I know

he would ask me what I was doing and when I

replied I had so much work to do he would likely

say leave it for later and stop working so you can

enjoy yourself!. This would be accompanied by a

chuckle as he realised he was joking whilst trying

to ensure I was happy. This type of exchange

would be typical of Daniel as he always thought

of others and genuinely liked it when people

were happy.Daniel was such a caring,polite and

wonderful young man who made staff smile

numerous times a day. Whenever I saw him in

school he would say "hello Mrs Watson how are

you"? He never complained and was always very

quick to smile or joke with friends and staff.

I will always have a strong image of Daniel in my

head and when I stop and think I imagine the

conversations we could have together about

school and his thoughts and ideas on how to

make everyone happy. I will treasure these

memories.

Love and Best Wishes.

Nanna and GrandadYou brought hapiness and joyto our lives from the day thatyou were born. We were soproud of you and admired theway you overcame yourdisability. You nevercomplained and were alwayspolite and friendly. You weregreat with music and had atalent to play the keyboard byear. Everyone loved andadmired you. We will think ofyou everyday fro the rest ofour lives, we will miss you somuch, you were an inspiration,All our love and God Bless.

Debbie Connolly

Where to begin we have so many. I suppose I must start at the time when Iain and I first met you

and your mam, we met whilst boarding a plane to Florida for a holiday in Disneyworld. At that

moment both Iain and I had met our best friends. We all bonded immediately, it was like we had

known each other all our lives. You boys had an unbelievable connection straight away, we

have some fantastic memories of that week, and the one that stands out the most is that you

boys had sheer joy being together, knowing how each other ticked and it was amazing to

watch. Another one is when you would pinch Iain’s red Mickey Mouse cap and hold onto it by

biting the peak, Iain would try in vain to get it back and would laugh and giggle. This

happened so many times over the week, Dan you would just have to look at Iain and it would

set Iain off in fits of giggles in turn making you giggle. Your mam and I took such joy in your

antics; it was a very special time. As we flew home we knew we would be friends forever, Iain

and I couldn’t wait to meet your little brother Jack and when I got back home my Sophie

couldn’t wait to meet all of you. We all met up very soon after, from the moment Sophie met

you all she loved you as we did.

Over the years we all have so many precious memories of the times we spent with you Dan,

all your birthday parties, Christmas, Easter, meals out, etc, but my personal special

moments have been talking to you on the phone all the time, I loved it so much and am

going to miss it terribly, telling each other I love you and all the kisses we blew down the

line every time you passed the phone back to your mam. One phone call especially sticks

in my mind, after I had a lovely chat with you, your mam said listen to this, she said to you,

“I love you my Dan”, and you replied in the background, “I love you my mammy”. I will

always treasure every single one of these memories.

More special memories were spent at the hydrotherapy pool at the Alan Shearer centre,

you loved going there so much and were so kind to ask me and Iain to come along. My

Iain is never ever going to forget these times spent with you, he loved it.

We will always remember your passion for your family, school and all your friends. Your

passion for music, Keeping Up Appearances, all your posters you collected, taking

photographs of everyone you love and much, much more.

Your eighteenth birthday party was a very special time, it was absolutely fantastic, and

you were so excited for weeks leading up to it, your mam thought of everything it was

perfect. Everyone had the best time ever and you especially. You did miles in your

chair that night Dan around and around the dance floor. A very special night

I have to talk about your mam now Dan, she loves you heart and soul, she is

wonderful as you know, she took the best care of you always and fought tooth and

nail for you for all your needs, totally devoted to you. She loves and cherishes you

like no other. We will look after her for you sweetheart, also Fez and your ‘Big’

Little brother Jack who misses you so much. We love them and

will make sure we take good care of them always.

Dan you are so very special, you have the purest and kindest

soul of anyone we have ever met. Our lives have been enriched

by knowing you, there are not enough words to say how much

we are going to miss you and we will always love you. I know you

will be watching over all of us, especially your mam, Fez and Jack.

All our love always, Debbie, Kev, Iain and Sophie xxx

If anyone would like to make donations to Daniel’s School, they can be sent to the address below, In memory of Daniel Smith

Percy Hedley School, Head Teacher, Lynn WatsonThe Percy Hedley FoundationHampeth Lodge, Forest Hall,Newcastle upon Tyne.United KingdomNE12 8YY

To find out more about the amazing work done byamazing people at Percy Hedley School, go to www.percyhedley.org.uk

We know Daniel would have liked to thank:

We are all so lucky to havehad Daniel in our lives

All the staff and pupils at the Percy Hedley School that he loved so much, he loved beingthere and thanks to all of the brilliant staff at Leybourne.

All the wonderful and caring Taxi Drivers and Escorts who took him to school and suppliedvast amounts of sweets and flying saucers. Also for putting up with his taste in music.All of his friends and family who thought the world of him.His dogs, Neisha and Maverick for making him laugh and cleaning his knees of crumbs.Neisha and Dan spent almost 11 years together and she was so gentle with him. She alwayslay next to him if he was poorly and gave him lots of love.Debbie, Kev, Iain and Sophie for being the bestest friends he could have ever wished to have.Uncle Darin and Auntie Marie for always being there and spoiling him rotten. He could nothave wished for a better Aunt and Uncle. Even if Uncle Darin did wind him up!!His Nanna Joan and Grandad Derek who loved him dearly and miss him so much.

His younger brother Jack for giving him so much care, help and attention and Fez (Graham)who was Daniel’s Dad for 9 years.

But most of all Daniel would have likedto thank his mam Lisa for fightingtirelessly to get him the care he neededand giving him such a wonderful qualityof life that was second to none,because of her, he received and gavemore love than most people wouldmanage in ten lifetimes.

Move over mate, Dan will bedoing the music from now on!