On September 17th, 2018 my mother, Donna, was taken to East Surrey Hospital at 6am in great pain. After scans, it was revealed she had a perforated bowel and required surgery. After going for surgery at 4pm, she finally was taken to ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at 10pm. They had spent hours cleaning out the mess that had been made by a small hole in her bowel.

After waking up and feeling fine, she took a turn for the worse in her second day in the ICU and had to be sedated. it was at this point it was discovered she had developed Sepsis. Her organs began shutting down as she had Major Organ Failure. The Doctors at first wanted to perform an ECMO surgery and transfer her to Cambridgeshire, she was not strong enough to survive this and therefor this option was taken off the table.

My mother was to remain in the ICU at East Surrey Hospital. Doctors and Nurses cared for her and treated her with everything they could think of and kept us updated as much as possible with what was happening. Eventually, thanks to the dedication of the ICU staff, my mother beat Sepsis and pulled through. The ICU staff went out of their way to ensure my mother was comfortable during her total 5 weeks in ICU, before moving her to HDU (High-Dependency Unit) and getting her ready for a ward, where she is completing the last of her recovery before she comes home.

If it was not for the staff of the ICU, my mother would not have survived, and my family would have been broken. This Christmas, we are raising money to help the ICU/HDU in any way we can. Each year we put on Christmas lights outside of our house for the season, this year we are asking anyone who enjoys our Christmas lights and those who wish to donate to the East Surrey Hospital ICU/HDU to help us help the ICU/HDU.

The money we raise could help save someone else’s life, just like my mother’s!