FOR the past year, Huddersfield mum Stacey Rodgers has lived every parent's nightmare.

Her life changed forever when she discovered her 10-year-old son Dominic lifeless in his bed on February 12, 2004.

He had been poisoned by carbon monoxide gas, which had seeped into his bedroom at the privately-rented house in Spaines Road, Fartown.

It was thought the killer gas came from a boiler flue positioned in a covered passageway between Stacey's home and the house next door.

But despite her grief, Stacey, 27, who now lives at Deighton, has created something positive from Dominic's tragic death.

Just a month after the tragedy, she began campaigning to raise awareness about carbon monoxide.

She said: "The last year has been unbearable and it's something I will never get over.

"I just want to make sure that other people don't go through the pain that I have had to go through.

"I started fighting the campaign, because I felt guilty that I never knew anything about carbon monoxide.

"I said: `Don't let my son's death be in vain' and I would say now that it hasn't been.

"I have been told that because of the publicity I've got, people are going out and getting safety checks."

Stacey's campaign has involved her telling the story of Dominic's death to countless magazines, newspapers and radio stations.

She has also backed carbon monoxide safety campaigns run by organisations like British Gas, the Health and Safety Executive and charity CO-Gas Safety.

Her latest effort with British Gas is the release of a poem she wrote about Dominic at Christmas.

Stacey said: "I was feeling down and sorry for myself, so I expressed what I was feeling in my poem. If people ask, I say I'm alright but the poem says how I really feel."

Stacey, who works as an inspector and packer at Fartown firm Montgomery Engravers, added: "I believe Dominic is still giving me the strength to campaign.

"I said if we can save one life I'd be happy and I think we've already saved at least one.

"I never thought the campaign would hit big. It's like I have two lives now. I work 40 hours a week, then I put my business suit on and travel round the country on campaign work. It's strange but it helps me."

Despite her successes in the past year, Stacey says she will not campaign for carbon monoxide safety forever.

In a few years' time, she hopes to stop campaigning and set up a bereavement centre.

She said: "I went to see two counsellors, but it didn't help me because I felt they couldn't understand what I was going through.

"My centre would be a place where people could drop in and talk or just relax. There would be people there, like me, who have been through what they are going through and can understand.

"It's just an early idea. I can't do carbon monoxide campaigns forever, because it will keep reminding me."

But before Stacey can move on from Dominic's death, there is another milestone she must face - the inquest.

It has taken a year for investigations to be completed and it will be another few months before Stacey and her family can get the closure they need at the hearing.

Stacey said: "I have lived in the nightmare every day and it's hard. But my family have given me so much support.

"At least after the inquest it will feel final. But that doesn't mean I will forget."

Stacey will be remembering Dominic at a special event tomorrow.

She has organised a football match between Dominic's old team Dalton Dynamoes - formerly Space Under 12's - and the Space Under 13 team.

The match will take place at the Deighton Centre from 10am, after a minute's silence.

After the match family and friends will visit a memorial garden created for Dominic by his former classmates at Christ Church Woodhouse Junior and Infant School in Deighton.

* FOLLOWING Dominic's death, gas piping company Transco, Kirklees Council and the Health and Safety Executive launched an inspection of 17,000 Huddersfield homes with passageways similar to those at the Spaines Road house.

Since November, Kirklees Council building staff have been inspecting the homes to determine which ones have boiler flues in covered passageways.

Transco staff have then inspected those homes to see if the flues need to be moved to prevent gases building up in the passageways.

Jeremy McGuire, building improvement manager for Kirklees Council, said his inspectors have found 211 flues in passageways.

He said: "Not all of them have needed altering. But some people have had their flues adjusted.

"We have done most of the homes in Huddersfield town and are now progressing to more outlying areas."