Stanley is very keen to help Southampton Hospital as all the nurses and doctors who helped his sister Eleanor recover from her brain haemorrhage were so kind. 

Eleanor became suddenly ill in April 2017. Initially the Doctors thought  it was viral meningitis, because of her stiff neck, headache and vomiting. After a few visits to A&E, she was finally admitted to hospital and was put on morphine and diazepam but the pain was only increasing and her symptoms deteriorated, she could no longer walk and needed to use a wheelchair and was in intense pain. Eventually after 5 days in Poole hospital, an MRI scan revealed a brain haemorrhage caused by a rare abnormal condition called an AVM - arteriovenous malformation. 

Blue lights sent us to Southampton where the incredible nurses, neurologists and surgeons came up with a plan to treat the AVM. A few weeks later, two surgeons operated for 11 hours to remove the abnormality and prevent it from rupturing again. Thankfully, our story has a happy outcome and Eleanor recovered from the brain surgery; she is a true fighter and very resilient. 

This has all been very worrying for us as a family, particularly for Stanley who is Eleanor's best friend as well as her little brother. He is very lost without her and felt scared when she was in hospital for such a long time. This made him determined to do something to help. He came up with the idea of a cycle ride and so we plan to raise money together and ride as a family from Boscombe pier to Sandbanks on New Year's Day 2018 - to start the new year off well. 

When Eleanor was recovering from the craniotomy, I asked Dr Chakraborty which charity would he like us to support and he explained that this appeal for a specialist Children's A&E will make such a positive difference to the way that the hospital operates. When I first took Eleanor to Poole A&E, it was a Thursday night before the Easter Bank holiday weekend and we were surrounded by people who had obviously been indulging in the spirit of the day. There was swearing, bad behaviour and loud noises. I look back and think what a difference to her early diagnosis it could have made, if she had been seen in a more appropriate environment. Sadly this is not possible at Poole, as our A&E is planned to be closed. A specialist Children's Emergency Department at Southampton will make a huge difference to the hospital which covers such a big area. 

If you wanted to support us by text message, you can send a message to 70070 with the text: AVME99 £5 (or however much you wish to donate). New text code updated on the 29th November. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.