A GRIEVING mum paid a touching tribute to her late daughter on the day the much-loved youngster should have been starting primary school.

Louise Cunningham, from Renfrew, took a balloon with the message ‘Starting P1 in Heaven’ to the grave of her daughter Layla Greene, who died from neuroblastoma last year, aged just three.

The tot would have been starting school this year had she not lost her battle with the aggressive cancer.

READ MORE: Heartache as brave Layla loses cancer fight

Louise, who is also mum to Layla’s siblings Matthew and Robert, told The Gazette: “I was devastated the night before that day.

“I set up the boys’ uniforms and sat looking at them hanging up and just sat in tears, picturing Layla’s wee uniform, as there should have been a third set, with a wee skirt, knee-high socks with matching bows and her wee blazer.”

It was thought Layla had a viral infection when she first fell ill in March 2017 but the family soon had to face the horrific news she had neuroblastoma.

Stage four neuroblastoma, which affected Layla’s kidney, liver, brain and back, is found in fewer than 100 children in the UK each year.

The tot went through gruelling chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, which was followed by radiotherapy.

Family, friends and the Renfrew community got behind a JustGiving page throughout Layla’s battle, raising around £2,000 for her.

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Louise revealed she had to stay off Facebook as schools returned from the summer break, as she couldn’t handle seeing photos of other youngsters heading off to lessons.

She added: “I had to send my sons to high school. They were both also feeling upset as they could see that I was upset.

“Once I knew the schools were in, I then managed to go up to Layla’s grave to make sure she had a special balloon.”

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