In 2012, on the 10th October Ella was born and she was a perfect little girl.  But unfortunately, at just 3 months old is was apparent things were not right, Ella had her first seizure and we began a whirlwind journey. Those first few months all merged into one and Ella was diagnosed with a severe form of Miller-Dieker syndrome and we were told it was a 1 in 17 million anomaly; we had won the lottery no-one wants to win.  Ella suffered multiple seizures a day, was unable to eat, sit, talk or even hold her head.

Things were not looking so good for Ella and it was suggested she went to Acorns in Worcester for palliative care.  I had never even heard of Acorns or the work they did but we were blown away by the amazing facilities.  It was like a shining light in a very dark time in our lives. Thankfully Ella had other plans and we were able to use Acorns for respite, playgroup and swimming which was a firm family favourite!  We
loved visiting Acorns, the staff were amazing and Ella was truly happy whenever we were there.

Sadly, at aged just 2 and 3 months Ella passed away.  Our entire world felt like it had ended and this is when we truly understood just how special Acorns really was.  We were able to take Ella straight up to
Acorns where she stayed until her funeral. I had no idea what to do but they supported me and my family and helped us make arrangements, allowing us to stay in the flat there and making us feel at ease. 

So the challenge – we will be trekking along the Great Wall of China for 5 days!  It will involve a 35km trek which although doesn’t sound a lot parts of the wall are so steep we will be lucky to complete a single km in an hour!  As we trek along this iconic Wonder of the World, we’ll cross ancient watch towers and battlement stations to witness magnificent panoramas of luscious, rolling green hills as far as the eye can
see!  We’ll climb the iconic ‘Heavenly Ladder’ and help rebuild part of the wall.

Its going to be a tough challenge, but these children go through even tougher situations on a daily basis and it really is the least we can do to raise awareness of Acorns and their amazing families.

We had better get our boots on!

So please donate as much as you can and don't forget to Gift Aid!