A loving mother this week paid tribute to two remarkable children who are helping her through a living nightmare.

Tragic mother Kerri Emptage, whose sons Ricky, Lewis and Jack perished in a house fire, says she would still be in the darkest depths of despair without the support of her two surviving children Joe-Joe, ten, and Dannielle, 13.

All three family members are still struggling to come to terms with the devastating events in the early hours of March 29 last year when fire swept through their maisonette home in Tollesbury Court, Woodlands Avenue, Hutton.

Joe-Joe, a pupil at Long Ridings School, suffered 60 per cent burns has on-going treatment at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, and still has to wear a special pressure garment.

In her first interview after the tragedy Kerri said: "Joe-Joe is very brave. He has more operations to come but they are waiting for a year to let him settle down. He never talks to me about what happened and I don't push it. He still sees a counsellor who comes to the school. He used to have nightmares but didn't remember them. Now he is sleeping better."

Joe-Joe, an an Arsenal Fan, is a typical ten-year-old who enjoys computer games and watching television.

Kerri also paid tribute to Dannielle, a year nine pupil at Shenfield High School.

She said: "Dannielle is very supportive and she does a lot for Joe-Joe who is quite a handful. She has always been really good and when you ask her to do something she never moans. She likes everything at school and wants to be a lawyer."

But now Kerri is at last looking forward to a family holiday awarded as part of the national Child of Achievement awards presented to Joe-Joe and Dannielle at the London Hilton in February.

Kerri's friend Tina Barham, of Westbury Road, Brentwood, will be accompanying the family when they jet off to Gran Canaria for a week on Monday October 22.

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