A MUM in a million is mourning the death of the foster son she said brought a smile to the face of all who knew him.

Avril Jackson, voted Britain's Mum of the Year by GMTV viewers in March, and her husband Simon Miller, have been devastated by the loss of their severely disabled foster son, Mark Gatehouse.

Mark died at their home at Hillcrest Avenue, Ferndown, on December 29 aged just 24.

Mrs Jackson, 49, said: "He was just so, so wonderful. He was one of those young people that everyone took to because he had something special. He had so much against him in his life and yet he always had a smile."

Mrs Jackson, inspired by her own mother, began working with disabled youngsters while still a teenager herself and later became a special needs teacher.

Never wanting children of her own she and her husband decided instead to offer respite care to youngsters initially and then to foster permanently a disabled child living in care.

In 1990 Mrs Jackson met eight-year-old Mark, who had cerebral palsy and severe gastric problems, and immediately knew she wanted to offer him a home.

With the support of Mark's natural mother she and Mr Miller took in Mark and have never looked back, later fostering two other severely disabled children, Vicki, now 19, and 13-year-old Paige.

Mr Miller, 52, who himself gave up work to join his wife as a full-time carer for the children when they fostered Paige four years ago, said the experience of bringing Mark into their family had encouraged them to take on the other children as well.

He said: "It makes you think about the important things in life. For the people who met Mark it changed their views and enriched their lives as well as ours. He gave so much more to people than he ever took.

"What people often don't think is that these are not disabled people. They are people that have disabilities but still individuals with their own personalities and their own likes and dislikes."

Mark, a popular pupil at Montacute School in Poole, had been ill throughout his life and outlived all expectations.

But complications from his conditions finally proved too much and he died with his foster parents as well as his natural mother and her husband at his side.

The family have paid tribute to all the medical staff who helped to care for Mark.

A memorial service was being held at Poole Crematorium this morning.