Grief affects everyone in different ways.
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For 11-year-old Chloe Payne of Norwood, the death of family friend Rhys Hodgetts brought an unfamiliar sense of loss.
The two-year-old died tragically after suffering a febrile convulsion in his sleep in 2016.
Now, his family are doing everything they can to raise awareness of bereavement, with Chloe lending her craft skills to the cause.
Over the past few months she has handmade more than 100 bracelets to help ‘Rally for Rhys’ – a fundraiser established by Rhys’s parents Shannon and Dean.
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Last week at the Exeter Easter market, Chloe sold out of bracelets and is now busy making more to sell at a high tea fundraising event in May.
Mrs Hodgetts said the family had been “humbled” by Chloe’s efforts.
“It has been a little bit overwhelming, everything that Chloe has done for us and for Rhys,” she said.
“We have been overwhelmed with the support of our family and friends, but for an 11-year-old to go above and beyond like this is just remarkable.”
The idea to make the bracelets came from an assignment Chloe was given at Norwood Primary School, all about showing initiative.
Chloe said she just wanted to “show that she cared” and help the best way she knew how.
Along with the bracelets, last year at a local dance competition she performed a solo lyrical dance to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, in dedication to Rhys.
“I love to dance and wanted to do something special,” she said.
“People have really liked the bracelets and I like making them.”
Chloe’s mum Allie said she was incredibly proud of her daughters efforts, including her friendship with Rhys’s seven-year-old sister Amalie who also attends Norwood Primary School.
“Chloe has really taken on a caretaker role with Amalie and they are good friends,” she said.
“I think it is nice to know that Chloe is always looking out for Amelie.
“Kids always surprise us, don’t they?
“For Chloe, I think she just couldn’t imagine how it would feel if she lost her own brother and she has put those emotions into everything she has been doing. I don’t think the realisation of how much of an impact she was having came until after she sold out of bracelets at the markets though.”
Chloe hopes to raise more than $600 and will be selling more bracelets at the Rally for Rhys high tea event on May 12.