Our dear baby Leo, a little brother for Luke, was born on 5th May 2009 and died aged nearly 5 months old on 27th September 2009. At 3 weeks old a health visitor was concerned there might be a problem with Leo, by 8 weeks old we suspected that he had a condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and at 12 weeks old the devastating diagnosis was confirmed. Leo had the severest form of SMA (Type I) which, due to its effects on motor nerves, causes muscle wasting and weakness and meant that Leo always had limited movement of his limbs, was never able to lift his head and increasingly struggled to feed and breathe. 

In all other ways we tried to make sure that Leo had at least as good a quality of life as any other baby his age and we and others enjoyed many happy times with him during the 145 largely sunny days of summer that he was with us (see his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.102220906471552.5477.100000509288262&type=1&l=7887204687) As the photos show, Leo remained a bright and smiley boy right up until he died, passing away peacefully in our arms during our first emergency visit to hospital with him. A poem written by his mummy that was read at his funeral to celebrate his short but much treasured life can be seen at: http://www.smasupportuk.org.uk/leo

This page continues fundraising already undertaken in memory of baby Leo via www.justgiving.com/LeoSmith. You can see details of previous donations and fundraising events there.