| I'm
a mother of three gorgeous little girls Tia (7yrs), Tilly
(5yrs) and Lucy-Anna (3yrs) and like any parent would be,
me and my husband Adam's worst nightmare is for anything to
ever happen to our girls, anything to ever touch them or hurt
them in any way, shape or form.
That nightmare became a devastating reality when
Tilly caught Meningococcal Septicaemia.
This is a deadly form of meningitis which there is still
no vaccination for. It happened so quickly that in just
minutes she was covered from head to toe in small, reddish
bruise like marks. Tilly was rushed to hospital in an ambulance
at top speed, but the marks were getting larger and larger
by the second. Still today the images won't leave my mind
- Tilly reaching out for me: "mum-mum.mum-mum..mum-mum".
She drifted in and out of consciousness as I tried to tell
her, and convince myself, that she was going to be fine
even though within 10 minutes of arriving at the hospital
I was told to prepare myself because my beautiful baby girl
was probably going to die. Never, Never.. NEVER!!!!! Could
anything ever be that cruel to take such a massive part
of my life away from me?
My little baby who makes everybody so happy with her smiles?
IT'S NOT HAPPENING TO TILLY!
My husband arrived as soon as he could shortly after Tilly
and I arrived and we immediately went to see her. I had
to tell him that Tilly may die.
A safe and quick transfer from University Hospital Durham
through to Newcastle General was vital as Tilly was critically
ill. A blood transfusion took placed during the journey
and I wasn't allowed to be with her. I was told that she
could die while this was happening. Hours passed by in silence
in the paediatric intensive care unit of Newcastle General
Hospital until it was finally confirmed that Tilly was still
alive.
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The next time we saw her she was lying in a bed,
tubes everywhere, looking so tiny and beaten by the
disease. After 3 days of a bedside vigil we still
didn't know that we were ever going to hear our little
girl shout her cheerful "Hi-Ya" ever again,
however we held onto the fact that she was a strong
little girl with a massive personality who would never
let anything like this take her away from her fun
filled life.
Every morning the consultant did his rounds and I
would start shaking and feeling sick as he answered
my questions.
Was Tilly going to be ok?
He knew how sick I felt every time he came near me
so on that day he just winked and smiled and said
"she's getting better". I collapsed in tears
- I had never been so relieved in my life. Tilly was
and still is a very lucky little girl and there is
not one day that goes by now where I don't think and
remember what happened to her and what could have
happened. Slowly, Tilly's hands and feet turned black
and after a month of being in Newcastle General Hospital,
working with the wonderful staff there, we realised
that Tilly was going to be ok but her hands and toes
were already dead and couldn't be saved.
A small price to pay for getting my baby back.
Everybody has been so kind and wonderful with words
of love and donations for Tilly. Every parent wants
the best for their children and we want Tilly to have
a normal life like the rest of us. It is so unfair
that things like this happen to anyone but when you
see a helpless little baby lying there with tubes
coming from every part of their body and their body
suddenly turning black you want to give that baby
the world when they finally get better and that's
what we want to do for Tilly. We want to make her
dreams come true and I am sure that a pair of new
hands would be a top priority on her list, and one
of my dreams would be to hold her hand again. If we
have the help to raise some money we can make Tilly's
dreams come true.
Can you please help us?
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