The parents of Lily Breen found her lifeless body in her bedroom and despite attempts to resuscitate her, her brain had been starved of oxygen.

Lily, from Desborough, was autistic, and her parents have said because she loved to touch and taste things, the only explanation they have is that she bit into the inflated balloon and when it popped, it was forced into her throat.

Doctors later found the balloon lodged in her windpipe following the tragedy on March 17.

Just moments earlier, her father Ian had given Lily a bath and washed her hair.

He said: "She didn't like having her hair brushed so I was telling her she was Daddy's beautiful girl.

"A few minutes later I was in the shower when my wife shouted that there was something wrong with Lily."

Lily's mother Angela Breen, a registered nurse who had given up work to care for Lily, desperately tried to save her before two ambulances and a doctor arrived.

Mr Breen, 37, said: "Angela fought to save her but it was too late.
"Doctors said it was likely that she died instantaneously – thank God she didn't suffer.

"She was our special girl and I feel lost without her. To lose someone like that is awful."

Lily had three brothers, Aarron, 23, Liam, 19, and 11-year-old Aidan, who was home when his sister died.

The family paid tribute to Kingsley School in Kettering, where Lily was a pupil, and said the teachers had brought Lily out of herself.

Mr Breen, a lorry driver, said: "The staff are like magicians – they bring children back and give you back what you feel you've been robbed of.

"We also had a carer, Denise Tenney, who would come and give us respite care. She was wonderful.

"Lily was at the high end of the autism spectrum and I believe in the end, that is what killed her.

"She didn't have any sense of danger like other children do."

The family have felt unable to return to their home since the accident and have been staying with Mrs Breen's mother in Kettering.

Mr Breen said they had been lucky to have Lily at all, because her birth was complicated.

He said: "We were so happy to have a little girl because we'd always wanted one."

Disney songs will be played at Lily's funeral, at Kettering Crematorium on Monday at 1.30pm.

Kingsley School is planning a garden of lilies in her memory.

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