Sophie was born full term on 22-10-10. Within a couple of hours doctors noticed something was wrong and she was taken to SCBU. A couple of hours passed and they came and told us the news that our princess had suffered 2 grade 4 bleeds in the ventricles in her brain and that she needed to be flown urgently to Alder Hey Childrens Hospital She was put onto life support and flown away. We flew over the following day to discover she had a 100% bleed in the left ventricle and a 75% bleed in the right ventricle and they gave her a 2% chance of survival. During our time at Alder Hey we were given. room at Ronald Macdonal for our duration over there. During the first week of her being in intensive care we were told on 4 occasions that we would probably have to turn of the life support but she kept fighting. Once she was 3 weeks old the pressure ( hydrocephalus ) had become too much and she needed the surgery to insert a VP Shunt into her brain to help aid the flow of CSF that was causing the build up of pressure. Due to the bleed she had suffered extensive brain damage and subsequently suffered with cerebal palsy, severe hearing loss ( double aided ) and poor weight gain amongst other issues. We were told she would probably not walk etc but she proved them wrong and she walked, talked and sang like any other child her age. She never let her disabilities get in her way and she had a zest for life like no other, she didnt like to hear the words ‘ hang on i’m not sure you will manage that’ her answer was always I can I will and she would find her own way to overcome obstacles thrown at her.

We had 7 happy fun filled years with our princess. She tried her hand at boxing, rugby, football and lately horse riding. She would go for hikes, geocaching She was a member of scouting and recently brownies. She tried anything and everything.

On the 27th November 2017 our lives were again turned upside down. She had suffered severe shunt malfunction so quickly we had no warning. She went into a coma. Again she was immediately flown away on life support to Alder Hey Childrens Hospital and straight into surgery to get an external drain inserted to release the build up of pressure she had suffered from the shunt failing and back into intensive care. Once again we accessed the Ronald Macdonald House whilst she was in Alder Hey.

She remained stable for a week but then during the weekend she underwent surgery 5 times within 48hours 😥😥😥. Again she was stable for a few days but then her body started to tire. She underwent an MRI which showed extensive brain damage. This time she wouldnt be able to fight as the damage done was so severe they told us that we would have to stop life support😥😪😪. Clinical testing was done which confirmed my princess was brain dead. Life support was switched off and she died in mine and her dads arms peacefully along with dear friend Shirley beside us on the 8th December 2017 aged 7.

Although Sophie is no longer with us she lives on in others as we decided to donate her organs. As you all know Sophie would of very much wanted this as she was such a caring little girl.

When Sophie came home she went to Rebecca House in the Rainbow Room until her funeral. She also accessed this facility when she was first born for 3 years as respite. The facility is just amazing as it gave us much needed time with our angel until we finally said goodbye.

I want to raise funds for these 2 special services as they are very dear to my heart and we would never if got through our days without this support.