Mum of a boy smothered by a beanbag speaks for the first time since his untimely death at childcare.

There’s a huge void in the Sanchez household. A void created by the bizarre and utterly tragic death of Leonardo, a one-year-old boy smothered beneath a beanbag while playing at childcare.

His mother Danielle is heartbroken, and struggling to come to terms with the loss of her “little Leo”.

“We’re barely coping, barely making it. He was the biggest life of the house,” she told PEOPLE. “It’s just very, very difficult.”

It was last Thursday, around 10am, when the Utah mother got the call that would shatter her world.

“It was a daycare worker just screaming that ‘He’s not breathing’,” she said.

He was rushed to a local hospital, but still Danielle had no explanation, no answers about what happened to her little boy. It wasn’t until Leo was airlifted to a second hospital that police explained.

The details remain murky but, according to PEOPLE, little Leonardo was suffocated when a childcare worker sat on a beanbag he was playing beneath.

“I had to say it back to the officer, ‘So, you’re telling me right now that a teacher sat on my son? Sat on my baby?'” Sanchez recalled. “And he said, ‘yes.'”

Sanchez still has questions about why staff weren’t keeping track of her son, how no one could have noticed he was missing for what she claims was up to 15 minutes.

“He’s rowdy. He’s loud. He’s the one you watched out for,” she said. “It’s just frustrating, confusing. I’m baffled. I want my baby boy back. And that’s not going to happen.”

Police aren’t releasing the identity of the worker responsible, a person for whom Sanchez has mixed feelings.

“My heart drops to the floor for her knowing she has to live with that for the rest of her life,” Sanchez told PEOPLE. “I feel for her, yet I’m upset. I’m angry and I’m saddened.”

Leo was a "bright, bright" boy, says Danielle. Image: GoFundMe.

Leonardo should have celebrated his second birthday this Saturday. But rather than attending his party, Leo's loved ones will be attending his funeral.

The Sanchez's have encouraged guests to bring birthday presents for him, which will be donated to a local children's hospital.

It's comforting, says Sanchez, to know that her "bright, loving" boy will still be helping other children, even in death.

For that very reason, the family has also decided to donate Leo's heart.

"We decided that was the best thing for him to keep spreading his love and help others," said Sanchez.

To help the Sanchez family with funeral costs, visit their GoFundMe page here.