TODDLER Kasey-Leigh Rowlands will grow up without her mother after the death of the young epileptic woman.

Kim Rowlands, who was 21 and who 'idolised' her 17-month-old daughter, died after havinga seizure at her home in Twyn Gardens, Blackwood.

Her mother Wendy Rowlands, 41, is now bringing Kasey-Leigh up - determined she will remember her mum.

"I will make sure that she remembers her mother. I am going to make her a memory box with pictures of her mother," said Mrs Rowlands.

"I brought my two children up on my own and I will do it with her. She will be smothered with love."

And Mrs Rowlands says she is devastated by her daughter's death.

"I am missing her terribly.When we put Kasey-Leigh to bed she puts her arms out and calls Mam. She knows something is not right," she said.

"Kim was a wonderful mother who could not do enough for her little girl.

"She idolised her. She would shop and shop for her - there are enough clothes and toys to last until she is six years old. Kimalways said her baby would never have anything second hand."

Mrs Rowlands woke at around 3am on February 8 and went to her daughter's bedroom after hearing her having a fit.

Kim, a former pupil of Pontllanfraith Comprehensive, had suffered from epilepsy since she was a baby but Mrs Rowlands realised this seizure was more serious.

"My son Neil tried to give her mouth-to-mouth and then I carried out CPR," she said.

Officers from Blackwood Police Station arrived ten minutes after she made the emergency call and Mrs Rowlands says two of them tried desperately to save Kim.

"They were marvellous - they did everything they could," she said, adding that an ambulance took Kim to the Royal Gwent Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Mrs Rowlands says she is critical of the the time it took to get an ambulance to Kim.

"I can't help thinking whether the outcome would have been different if the ambulance had got here quicker," she said.

"I can't change anything but I would like to know if she could have been saved."

A spokesman from the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust said: "The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust would like to extend its condolences to the family at this difficult time. The ambulance service received the 999 call at 2.59am and the nearest available ambulance arrived in 19 minutes."

A funeral service, attended by around 200 people, was held in Ynysddu and Kim was buried at Dan-y-Graig Cemetery in Risca last week.