The 19-year-old from Ballykelly had taken Ecstasy at a friend’s house in Limavady and reacted so badly she was lying in A&E at Altnagelvin Hospital fighting for her life.

When Mary got to the hospital with her husband Joe, a nurse said a doctor would be out to talk to them soon.

Mary knew something wasn’t right.

The doctor told the couple that Danielle might not pull through, and that if she did she would probably have brain damage.

Mary didn’t know what to hope for.

As she sat by her bedside - Danielle unconscious, never opening her eyes - Mary thought about what life would hold for her “baby girl” if she survived.

“You’re so proud, you love your dignity. I’d be changing your nappy and I know you couldn’t bear it,” she said to herself. “You won’t be able to work on your computer, and you’re mad about computers.”

At 1.10am on October 5, thoughts of what might happen ended as Danielle tragically passed away.This Sunday marks the first anniversary of Danielle’s death. After anniversary Mass at St. Finlough’s Chapel outside Ballykelly, where Danielle is buried, Mary and her family will have dinner together.

“There are times when you don’t believe she’s gone. It’s so very hard to believe,” Mary told the ‘Journal’ in an emotional interview.

“There are times and I’ll be standing at the sink and this picture will come into your head of when she died, and it just rips you open.”

Everyday, Mary and Joe visit Danielle’s grave.

“I couldn’t go with not going up, no matter what time it is. We have to go, and we talk to her and tell her things.”But the place and time Mary feels closest to her “full of life” daughter is at night.

“Maybe it’s my imagination, but you feel at times you think you see a shadow passing you. You know it’s her and I tell her I love her.”

Mary is a “changed person” since her daughter died, and said everyday since her death has been torture.

“You don’t loss a child and forget about it. It’s the worst thing that could happen to anybody,” she said.

Mary said she will never forgive the dealers who sold the drugs to her daughter.

“Everybody should know who these people that are selling drugs are. People need to let the police know, because if they could have seen Danielle lying there...” she broke off, sobbing.



Bullying

Danielle was a slim size eight when she died, and had recently lost a lot of weight.

“She had been bullied at school about her weight and I think when she had friends, and she didn’t have many, she would have done whatever they wanted to keep them,” said Mary, who believes drugs made Danielle forget about the bullying.

“She was beautiful, but you couldn’t have told her that. She didn’t realise she was perfect.”

While her daughter was snatched away at such a young age, Mary is glad to have had Danielle for 19 years.

“She brought a lot of joy to our life and a lot of that went when she went.