A DISTRAUGHT mother is today convinced she will never know why her severely disabled son died exactly a year after her daughter.

A DISTRAUGHT mother is today convinced she will never know why her severely disabled son died exactly a year after her daughter.

The inquest into the death of Jacob Gaecke, a six-year-old boy with a rare brain malfunction, has concluded that he died of natural causes.

His death, which occurred on December 21 2008-a year after his teenage sister Sarah was killed in a horrific road crash, has left his mother, Vici, feeling empty as she struggles to cope with losing two of the most important people in her life within 15 months.

Greater Suffolk Coroner doctor Peter Dean told the inquest at Ipswich Police Station yesterday that Jacob died as a result of holoprosencephaly- a rare condition that he had suffered from since birth.

The documentary inquest heard that Mrs Gaecke phoned 999 and told police that her son had passed away. When paramedics attended they found the youngster dead on his bed.

Mrs Gaecke, of Nacton Road, Ipswich, said: “I am still no further forward. On the one hand I think thank God it was peaceful and thank God he was at home but I don't know why it happened on that day. I have to believe that Sarah is looking after him and that maybe it is a message that he is going to be ok. I have to believe there is some reason for all this.

“Without a doubt, he got me through losing Sarah.”

The condition left young Jacob, who attended Thomas Wolsey School, severely disabled and he needed round-the-clock care as he could not fend for himself.

Mrs Gaecke, 37, who is also mother to 14-year-old Aaron and two-year-old Isabelle, said: “He was like a six-year-old new born baby. I spent six years caring for a new born baby 24/7 and then bang, it's gone.

“My life is empty now. I love my children equally but when you have a child with additional needs they are your life.

“Jacob has given everyone, and me especially, much more than we could have ever given him. When he looked at you, it was pure love.

“I don't know how I cope. I have to think of him now shouting and screaming and running around. I have to believe that I will see my son and daughter again and they will come running towards me.”

Sarah died three days after her 15th birthday on December 21, 2007. She was a passenger in a car on the A14 near the Orwell truck stop when it was involved in a collision with another vehicle. She climbed from the wreckage but was hit by another car and died.