Baby Delaney Cassidy was born 20th August 2018, at the RVI hospital, as soon as she was born she was taken straight to scbu team and she was looked after by a team of specialists doctors and nurses who had came from the freeman hospital to stabilise her, she was baptised that night by the parish priest from St Theresa's in Heaton it was a beautiful ceremony & after that she was transferred with the specialists to the freeman. She is currently awaiting open heart surgery and is being looked after at Newcastle upon Tyne Freeman Hospital PICU.

Delaney was being scanned every 2-3 weeks At Rvi Fetal medicine before she was born, Cassa & her family knew that Delaney had a Major exomphalos, an Exomphalos is a rare type of abdominal wall defect, It occurs when a baby's abdomen does not develop fully. The weakness in the abdominal wall allows the abdominal contents, mainly the bowel and the liver to protrude outside the abdominal cavity where they are contained in a loose sac that surrounds the umbilical cord. At 25 weeks They where also told that Delaney had suspected transposition of the great arteries, they couldn't get a good look at the heart so it was only suspected and we had hoped that her heart was fine and it was not the case. Cassa had genetic & chromosome testing done so she could prepare for anything that was to come however testing showed there was no chromosomal abnormalities.

Since Delaney has been born we have discovered she does have transposition of the great arteries, she also has 2 holes in her heart, a leaky valve, and other complications with her coronary arteries, her lungs are very very small due to having an exomphalos which did not allow her lungs and rib cage to expand which is a serious concern. Delaney also has physical disabilities which they are linking to a rare genetic syndrome. Delaneys nose has not fully developed, meaning she only has her left nostril, so she is ventilated, her right arm didn't fully develop, she has her top bone, an elbow and no bottom bone her elbow is connected to her wrist, her hand is turned in and she has no right thumb. Her right ear also did not develop meaning she is deaf on her right side, Delaney's family do not yet know how her right eye has been affected and if she is blind. They also know that she cannot fully turn her neck as the skin and her jaw on her right side is very tight. Delaney's family had no idea of the extent of her disabilities before she was born other than she may of had a less complicated heart problem and the exomphalos.

She also has other significant life limiting and changing conditions which i haven't gone into detail until i get permission from her family however she is very sick and needs every bit of help and support she can get, Delaney's family have been kind to others when they have needed it and now they need help but they wont ask so this is my attempt to help them.

For now they wait for test & scan results to come back about there little girl, and wait to hear about the plans and procedures which have been put in place to help there baby. Delaney will require a major open heart surgery in the next few weeks hopefully in the mean time her lungs grow, and she carry's on as she has been, they have said ventilation will need to be weaned off but so far this has proven difficult for Delaney. Delaney's family have asked everyone to keep her in there prayers as its the only bit of hope they can cling onto at the moment.

Cassa has supported many sick children with toy donations to ward1a at the RVI she has donated funeral flowers to families when there children have passed away, and in times when families have not been able to raise the funds they needed when they have been faced with extreme hardship. She has worked for many charities face painting to help with no cost to them, and when she worked in the flower shop in the crematorium on the west road she was kind to people and always there for a shoulder to cry on. And now we want to help her. Cassa's family are hard working and her Dad Paul worked at the RVI for over 25 years and her Grandad Harry was a popular man and spent time with everyone from all walks of life and different religions at the flower stall in the crematorium.

Support Delaney and her Family. Her family are travelling between Newcastle, Hexham and Alston on a daily basis, we want to help with the cost of parking, petrol and living away from home to be close to there baby during this awful time which they had no time to prepare for.

Please pray for Baby Delaney

Please can everyone keep Baby delaney in there prayers and thoughts xx