We cared for Iona-May for more than seven years until she sadly died in October 2013. Here, her Mum Vicki talks about her very special daughter and how Chestnut Tree House became part of her family....

Dear Friend,

My daughter Iona-May was born nine weeks too early. She was very poorly and immediately taken into intensive care. She had severe brain damage and we were told to expect her to die any day, but every morning we woke up and she was still with us, still fighting.

That was in May 2006 - and that was when it was suggested that we go and see Chestnut Tree House. We quickly learned that Chestnut were not there to cure, but to care for Iona-May, support us and add as much joy and fulfilment into all our lives as they could.

Iona-may was very, very ill for all her life. But, she did have a life - a life filled with love and enjoyment. We gave her as much as we could manage as a family - and Chestnut were there for us every step of the way.

With Chestnut's support, there were so many special moments in Iona-May's life but I remember her first Christmas the best. She was seven months old and hadn't really reacted to any stimulus we'd given her up to them. We bought her a little toy tiger we'd found at Argos; I gave it to her on Christmas morning and helped her to unwrap it. It had a squeaker inside, so we squeaked it.

Iona-May smiled. A full, proper smile. For the first time in her life.

From that moment on, 'CatCat' (as he became known) and Iona-May were inseparable. For the rest of her life they were never parted. Every Christmas Iona-May (and CatCat!) went to Chestnut's Christmas parties. She loved them and I treasured pictures of her with Santa Claus, receiving her present.

Iona-May died in October 2013. She was just seven and a half. After having survived for so long, after so many scares - one morning she simply did not wake up.

Chestnut welcomed us for the last time. They prepared her favourite room and the staff piled fallen autumn leaves up outside the room and wheeled her bed through them when she arrived because they remembered that was one of her favourite things when she was alive. That was the incredible level of thought and detail they put into everything they did for us.

This year will be our third Christmas without Iona-May. On Christmas Day we'll all sit together and Iona-May's picture will be at the table with us - and CatCat of course. It will be very, very sad, but we'll never forget the happy life she had or the part that Chestnut played in helping us achieve that.

This year, I'm proud that CatCat is the 'mascot' for Chestnut's Christmas appeal. Because I know that, this year, there's another child like Iona-May, another family beginning the same journey we've gone through.

Please help them if you can. No-one should ever have to go through what we went through. But, when it does happen there is no better place for that family to be than under the care of Chestnut Tree House.

With love and best wishes to your family from ours,

Vicki, Iona-May's mum