Three weeks after her grandchild Arrietty was born, Rosemary had a serious stroke. 

Arrietty was born with clubfoot affecting both of her feet, requiring treatment to correct the position of her feet and allow her to live a normal life. At the time Rosemary told her family that she and Arrietty were in a race to see who could walk first. Six months later Rosemary was back on her feet (she won the race!), walking, running and even climbing mountains. In May Rosemary had a second stroke from which she would not recover.

On the day Rosemary passed away Arrietty was seen by her consultant at the hospital. She had completed one of the most important parts of her treatment, her feet were looking perfect and she no longer had to wear her foot brace (boots and bar). Rosemary took huge pleasure from hearing about and seeing the transformation in Arreitty's feet. She would have been overjoyed at the news.

Thankfully clubfoot is a condition that is very treatable in the UK with simple massage techniques and relatively cheap equipment. This is not the same for children born in other parts of the world. Children are often left untreated due to a lack of medical knowledge and skills and the absence of appropriate equipment. Untreated this is a crippling condition and many children with clubfoot will never walk.  It costs just £162 to correct clubfoot in developing countries and give a child a great chance of a normal life.

Throughout her life Rosemary supported causes that provided decent standards of healthcare in the third world. She would have loved the thought that children in other parts of the world would get the same treatment as Arrietty and would be able to walk, run and climb their own mountains.