In April 2012 my daughter, Charlotte (Lottie), had a sudden brain haemorrhage in her sleep caused by an aneurysm we knew nothing about. This led on to her suffering multiple strokes, leaving her in a coma and fighting for her life. She was just 7 years old.

Charlotte battled her way back to us and although she has been left partially sighted with mobility issues and severe learning difficulties, she is still the happiest, kindest person with the biggest smile the world has ever seen. In honour of this spirit, we began our annual Lottie Box appeal to try and make the festive period a little easier for children & their families in the hospital which housed Charlotte & I for 8 weeks in our time of need.

2017 is our 4th year of Lottie Box and we are always so humbled by the generosity of our community. We ask local businesses to act as drop off points for people to leave donations of new items to be collected by the Lottie Box team and distributed to the hospital during Christmas week.

I wish I didn't know what a hard time these families are having, but I do. I also know how much being thought of can help carry you through the hard times. One of the things that made me feel held and supported was a tea bag sent in a card. I don't even drink tea but the thought that somebody had sent me the gesture of making me a cuppa, meant such a lot.

Thank you all so much in advance for the help you all give us in doing this each & every year. You are all amazing!

Leila xx