Dad of 14-week-old 'miracle baby' dies after canoe overturns on Wigan lake

Mark Hill got into trouble at Amberswood Lake in Hindley on Saturday afternoon (July 18).

A major search operation was launched at around 4pm but his body was later pulled from the water.

Mark, described as an "amazing father" leaves behind fiancé Lisa Veasey and his 14-week-old son Corey.

The 40-year-old, from Hindley who was born in Wigan and grew up in Beech Hill, had wanted a child for 20 years but Mark and Lisa struggled to conceive and had to have IVF.

After two failed rounds, Mark and Lisa welcomed little Corey on April 14.

His devastated sister Hannah Hill, 29, from Hindley, told Wigan Today: "Mark had wanted children for around 20 years.

"He was with Lisa for around nine years and they immediately started trying naturally.

"As time went on, they realised they couldn't conceive and then had two rounds of failed IVF.

"However they were then successful naturally and Corey was born on April 14. He really was a miracle baby."

A groundworker for four years and also a landscaper, Mark spent some of his life living in Wales - where he started canoeing - for a number of years, before moving back to Wigan and settling in Hindley.

Hannah said: "He bought the canoe around two-and-a-half years ago.

"Mark was reliving his childhood in a way and he had never used the canoe up until yesterday.

"He was actually going to give me the canoe as I was going to stick it in my back garden as a planter.

"He was supposed to be gardening yesterday, but the weather put him off, and he decided to use it on the lake."

Mark also leaves behind two other brothers, Andrew and Aaron, and three sisters, Kelly, Sheila and Stacey. He also had a number of nieces and nephews.

Hannah said the family had been left 'heartbroken' by the death of Mark, who she described as a "gentleman."

She said: "We can't get our head round it.

"We was a good man and so kind, a real gentleman who would do anything for anybody.

She added: "He was also an amazing father who doted on Corey."

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: "Shortly after 3.50pm on Saturday, july 18, police were called to reports of concern for a man in Amberswood Lake off Liverpool Road in Wigan.

"Emergency services attended and following a water search, sadly found the body of a man believed to be in his 40s.

"There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances and a file will be passed to the coroner."

A fire service spokesman confirmed they had been called to reports that someone had fell out of a canoe at the lake.

Two crews from Wigan and Hindley and a water incident unit from Eccles attended.