Hi everyone, I’m Shaina.

My daughter Imogen was born in September 2025. First and foremost, she is an utter ray of sunshine and myself, her dad and her big brother Miller are obsessed with her.

Imogen had her first ambulance trip to hospital at 2 days old after she showed signs of cyanosis. This is when there is a lack of oxygen getting into the body and so the skin can appear a blue/dusky colour. After 4 days in hospital, an endoscopy, cannulations, bloods, chest xrays, NG tubes and antibiotics later, it was decided this was an exclusion diagnosis of reflux and we were discharged.

After one night at home, Imogen spiked a temperature of 38.2 at home and so she was readmitted into hospital. Once again, Imogen was cannulated, had an NG tube passed, had numerous failed lumbar punctures, more antibiotics and blood tests were taken. And yet after 6 days Imogen was still not responding to antibiotics.

This was a red flag for one of the consulting doctors, who then made the decision to ask for a cranial ultrasound to look for inflammation in the brain which potentially may be caused by infection such which we couldn’t find as all lumbar punctures failed.

During this scan, I immediatley knew something was wrong, the scan showed fluid inside her brain. Later that day, consultants came to tell us that unfortunately Imogen had suffered a Grade 3 Intraventricular Brain Haemorrhage on the left side of her brain and had a build up of fluid in her brain called Hydrocephaulus. The decision was made to watch and wait and hope that the blood would reabsorb.

After 4 days of OFC checks increasing (head circumference) and Imogen developing symptoms such as “sunset eyes” it was decided Imogen’s care would be transferred to the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh and we were transferred that night.

Imogen was admitted to the Neurology ward at around 3am and by 7am it was decided she would be in theatre that day to have a Ventricular Access Device (VAD) placed into the right side of her brain. The aim of the VAD is to manually drain fluid via a butterfly needle into the device until the blood has absorbed and the fluid can drain freely again. The surgery went well and we had Imogen back in our arms 4 hours later.

The next day, Imogen had built up fluid again and the neurosurgical team had to manually drain this from her VAD and put Imogen on continuous drainage. However later in the day, Imogen unfortunately had a catastrophic secondary Grade 4 bleed due to irrigation of the first bleed. This was an emergency situation and she was rushed for life saving surgery which we weren’t even sure would be enough to save her. This was the worst moment of our entire lives.

And yet somehow, Imogen pulled through. She was brought back to us around 3 hours later with 2 External Ventricular Devices (EVD) in either side of her brain to drain fluid and blood. The aim of these drains is to relieve pressure as they continuously drain. These drains meant that Imogen’s movement had to be restricted and so we weren’t able to hold our girl for 10 days, this was hell on earth. The drains worked well, despite needing some aspiration a few times due to blockages from blood clots. They remained in for 3 weeks until one of them moved and later that day unfortunately came out of her brain and so pressure once again built up.

Imogen was then rushed for ANOTHER emergency surgery and it we decided she would have a shunt placed into the right side of her brain and another VAD into the left side as a safety net should her shunt block. Again, the surgery went well and Imogen was returned to us. This time with no cables, no drains, we were able to pick her up and cuddle her as freely as we would like. I cannot explain to you how this felt.

Due to the nature of Imogen’s bleeds, she has moderate brain damage. This means she has “evolving Cerebral Palsy” and will likely develop symptoms. However we don’t know how mild or severe this may be. Currently, Imogen is developing perfectly and is incredibly cognitively well. We have noticed some stiffness in her ankles/legs recently, however Physio/Neurology say this may not progress into a difficultly but we have to be open minded given the severity of Imogen’s brain damage.

In light of this, I am asking for your help.

Help to financially afford the best possible outcome for Imogen. Help to support the ongoing costs of Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, whatever therapy it takes to get Imogen to her potential. Help to change her life.

Even help to give her life experiences which may be difficult, but can be adapted to allow her to do so. Holidays. Trips away. Equipment she may need.

Right now, we are doing ok. It has been incredibly difficult financially with maternity leave and being 2 hours away from home for us all as a family and this is going to be a long road ahead.

Imogen may well develop normally, we just don’t know. However as a family, we must do what we can to ensure we give her the best chance.

Please do what you can. Share. Donate. Talk about Imogen. Spread awareness. We are eternally grateful.

Thank you,

The Reid Family. X