Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page in Rory's memory.

As some of you may be aware, in January 2023 Catherine and I lost our beautiful little boy Rory at just 21 months old following complications in his recovery after contracting sepsis whilst we were on holiday in the USA. As a parent, losing your child is something you never want to comprehend, but unfortunately for us both, this has become our reality.

An insight into our special little boy… 

Rory was born in March 2021, a shining light from what had become the new normal following the COVID19 pandemic. The following 21 months were full of walks and adventure as Rory very quickly got cabin fever if he was ever in the house for too long. These months were also cuddle-filled as Rory was not the greatest sleeper, so we were regular visitors to the 12, 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 am clubs. He quickly developed pointing as his favoured method of communication, pointing to his every wish and desire (largely food related), as he became the happiest and most energetic toddler. Catherine and I would spend our weeks trying to plan our weekend activities to keep him busy. We all loved our weekly swimming lessons where he absolutely loved splashing and swimming about and on Sundays I would drag him along to his football lessons – he looked destined to become a goalkeeper as he was always more interested in picking up the ball than kicking it! 

Rory was our world, with a cheeky little grin that you could never say no to. Nothing could beat the rewards of making him smile, seeing him grow and learning new things. 

Although Rory grew his angel wings much too soon, we are thankfully left with all the fantastic memories of the family time we spent together and are just left to say, thank you Rory for all the joy and love that you brought to us in the short time we spent together, we will never ever forget you!

In order to keep Rory’s memory alive, we want to support the UK Sepsis Trust's work in raising public awareness of this destructive illness. Sepsis deaths can be preventable, early detection being the key factor. If through our efforts, we can help to prevent the death of just one individual, it will make some of the pain telling Rory’s story worth it.

A bit about sepsis...

• Sepsis is known as a silent killer, its symptoms hiding in plain sight as one of many other common illnesses and easily misdiagnosed. 
• Symptoms can present themselves differently from person to person, or in some not at all. It is indiscriminate, affecting everyone from the very young to the old, those with underlying conditions to those at the peak of fitness.
•  It all just takes one source of infection such as a cold to develop into pneumonia like Rory to which your body’s immune system response goes into overdrive. Developing quickly from initial infection to septic shock in as little as 12 hours. 
• In little children, they can compensate and compensate until it can be too late so it is really important to think or ask 'Could it be sepsis?'
• In the UK alone, approximately 245,000 p