Our beautiful daughter, Elsie, was born on the 27th October 2016, 6 weeks premature and with congenital hypotonia of unknown origin meaning that she had very limited use of all her muscles and was artificially ventilated from birth. The pregnancy was uncomplicated and the disease/disability was a complete shock, we had no idea there was going to be any problems at all. The decision to terminate life support was taken when Elsie started to succumb to complications, on 27th November 2016. She was exactly one month old.

As her parents, we have decided to take the opportunity to do something exciting and something we would never have done without this tragedy occurring. We want to take 2 horses and a wooden wagon, ourselves and our dogs on a 1000 mile journey, from our home near the north-west coast of England to the Mediterranean in the south of France. We currently only have one horse, no wagon and very limited driving experience. Are we mad? we think we might be.

To fundraise to the best of our capacity for the three charities that have supported us during this very difficult time we need a little help to get started - the money given to this page will be used towards building the wagon, sourcing horses and harness, buying animal feed for the journey and other journey related expenses.

Please take a look at Facebook @Elsiesjourney and www.worldwidewheelwright.com/elsies-journey for more information.

If you wish to donate to the charities on our behalf then please visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SomeoneSpecial/elsiesjourney