A family is fundraising money to build a memorial bench in tribute to a two-year-old girl who died after suffering a range of conditions and illnesses.

Little Isabelle Blunt-Smith was diagnosed with several ailments during her life, including spastic quadriplegia, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and scoliosis.

In February this year she came down with influenza and then pneumonia, within the space of a month, before suffering from life-threatening sepsis.

Born on December 12, 2015, it was after fighting the onset of these illnesses that she died in the early hours of August 21 this year.

Her aunty Emma Moore told Sutton Guardian: “The majority of the time in her early life, the doctors knew she had cerebral palsy but she had lots of other things.

“Even the doctors didn't quite know what to diagnose her with, what treatment methods to go down.

“I remember when she was six months old and she was having Botox injected into the side of her jaw, into the muscles.

“They thought she wouldn't smile or she wouldn't laugh, it took her a while, but just stroking her cheek and the sense of it she would lift her mouth up and she would smile.

“If I'd go up to her and blow raspberries in her ears then she'd giggle. She had a little duck where you press its stomach and it would quack and she'd giggle at it. Then, one day, she actually reached out her hand out to grab it and that was something she'd never done before.

“You could see the inner child in her wanting to play and just to be like a normal child, but physically she couldn't.”

Following her funeral, which was held on September 4, Isabelle’s family is raising £3,000 to build a memorial bench outside Queen Mary’s Hospital for Children in Wrythe Lane.

The reason behind it is because the little girl and her parents, Hannah and Michael, from Wallington, used to spend time sitting on one as a way to recover and overcome the obstacles she faced.

Fundraised money will go towards covering Isabelle’s funeral costs with any leftover money raised being donated to hospice charity Shooting Star Chase.

Mrs Moore, 26, added: “The idea of having something put there in her memory, just to symbolise that she's not being forgotten. Queen Mary's was a big part of her short life. I think it's also something to give my sister happy thoughts, knowing that something is there in her [Isabelle's] name.

“If other parents are at the hospital going through difficult times, they'll be going outside to take a breather and to sit down and Hannah wants somewhere for other parents to sit.”

A total of £2,205 - of the £3,000 target - has been raised through donations on the dedicated JustGiving page at the time of publishing.

To donate, click the link here.