Phoebe was born 11 weeks early, weighing just 1lb 14.5 oz, she fought hard to stay with us, it was a rocky road suffering Necrotising enterocolitis and a severe chest infection at 4 weeks and being too ill to transfer to Bristol but after 4 months in NICU she came home. Hooked up to oxygen and on a concoction of medicines but, she was home and she thrived from then.

Phoebe has continued to amaze us and her medical team, she loves to take on a challenges and has pushed hard for as much independence as she can achieve, even when the medical staff have said she couldn't achieve something, we pushed for her to try and she succeeds daily. We, as a family, never let 'no' be an answer for her.

Unfortunately, due to her cerebral palsy, scoliosis was always on the cards when she hit puberty. This has been the case and has come on very fast and in just 12 months she already has a 50 degree curvature. If we get to 80/90 degree the heart and lungs start to be compressed. It has taken us a long year of badgering and insisting people listen to our concerns to get it recognised as no-one seemed to see what we saw, but finally she got referred to a scoliosis team in Exeter and off we went. This was a big let down, we had no further information and no course of action to follow just a follow up in 4-6 months. My brother and Sister in Law are not the type of parents to sit on this and so their research began and it wasn't long before they realised just how serious this is and the potential of getting worse.

In order to slow the curvature and prevent surgery for as long as possible, Phoebe needs a brace to be fitted and a bespoke wheelchair, which the wait will be at least 5 months. This being a wheelchair adequately adjusted to suit her new needs. For anyone who has no knowledge of medical equipment, nothing is done at speed and with the current global situation its even slower and right now, what Phoebe needs is speed, before her curvature gets any worse. As we know, coronavirus hasn't helped any of these appointments and diagnosis as appointments are frequently cancelled or changed.

We find ourselves with the only solution in helping Phoebe is going private and, the problem then, is the price tag to go with it. This brace, which will need changing every time she has a growth spurt, is going to cost around £3,000. We have always done whatever we needed for Phoebe to grow and flourish to her full potential and found the money to give her the best life, like any other child, but this cost is one that we will struggle to make and would impact, significantly, on my younger nieces as well. We are proud of what we have achieved as a family for Phoebe and would never normally create a page like this and it's been our friends and family pushing us to do it that got us here. So please, if may spare a £1, help us to provide my niece with the much need body brace, to help slow the curvature, then we would be eternally grateful.

Thank you very much for helping us achieve more for our beautiful, smiley, little hero 💗