Zara is one of the happiest smiley little girls you could ever meet. She is also disabled with an undiagnosed condition that means that her development is severely delayed.

Zara was taken into Special Care after being born. We learned she had had a brain haemorrhage and her development might be affected. She is now 2 years 8 months old and is yet to do many of the things typical children can.

Zara is slowly learning to chew food and pick up a cup and drink from it. She is able to sit up without support but cannot crawl and has only recently been able to roll over from her back onto her front. She can weight-bear on her legs only while leaning against something. She can't talk so we are learning to use picture cards and signs to communicate.

She has frequent appointments for scans and other investigations, and also physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and hydrotherapy.

Throughout everything Zara remains happy and full of smiles. She never fails to cheer up the people that work with her. She loves to turn the pages of books, play with anything in reach, and to laugh at her big sister and brother.

We don’t know what the outlook is for Zara. She may always be a SWAN child, meaning that she has a Syndrome Without A Name. We take things one day a time, focus on Zara’s current needs and celebrate every achievement, no matter how small.

Most of Zara’s care and treatment on the NHS, the staff are wonderful but sometimes there are long waits so we pay for private therapy.

We also want specialist equipment to supplement what is available, including a custom tricycle to help develop her legs, a ‘Scooot’ (a kind of beginner’s wheelchair designed for very young children) and an iPad and specialised software for children with special needs.

We are fundraising to purchase the above items and also to be able to better support Zara now and in the future.

Steve, Catherine, Alistair, Holly and Zara