A most precious gift 💝

17 years of gifted Life 

Eloise 

17 years of life, of living not merely existing. If you’re given the most precious gift of all a second chance of LIFE why waste it ? From toddler, to pre-school, through key stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 , to six form college to adulthood. Moving forward through life smashing all obstacles that have been put in her way. That’s my Eloise, my daughter, my inspiration , my precious, my everything. 

            How different it could have been for me waking up on the 10th June 2002 if Eloise hadn’t received her heart transplant.  Knowing she’d be going on ecmo that day and the complications that could have , watching time run out as you could only stay on ecmo for a very short time all those years back. I never imagined I’d take my daughter back to Bristol alive, it’s hard to admit that . Now I cling onto hope and actively encourage others to do so but at that period in my life I had no hope. All options available to Eloise filled me with fear. I still have that one M&S baby grow that I packed, a white one with little castles and trees on it in pastel shades. The baby grow for her to be dressed in when she died, I took no other clothes for her. 

             The 9th June 2002 another day that I remember with such clarity, whole conversations, room layouts, frantic activity in the unit, phones ringing, hesitant looks, a buzz of anticipation and a pale and dying Eloise in a full sized hospital bed. We went out for a few hours into Newcastle to get away from the beeping machines, to touch normality (you never do, you just want to scream at people ) I remember the fire service advert on the side of our bus. The picture was of a burning wheelie bin,  the words were “Do you know what your child’s doing tonight?”  I guess I had absolutely no idea........

       Perhaps it really is for the best that we have no idea what’s around the corner as we’d be too scared to live for the day. Nothing is promised , the only guarantee is we won’t get out of here alive. Even when we decided to sign the consent form for Eloise’s transplant and accept the advise of her consultant regarding her being the worlds oldest ABO mismatch recipient Eloise had other ideas.  An additional amount of sedation was enough to make her arrest, one way to get everyone running, making the machines go crazy and adding another flashback to my scarred brain ! Someone uttered the words “are you alright?” What do you say to that ? “Great view of all the action thank you .”  Actually you don’t say anything as your husband does it impolitely for you ! 

         You know the story, both halves of it now as I’ve shared Zara’s story with you, you’ve seen her mum Rebecca, you’ve watched her and read her words. She’s such a brave, generous soul who continues to promote organ donation awareness and chairs two hospital committees. Zara will never be forgotten, she travels through life with Eloise. This story will continue to unfold and we are soon turning to a fresh page as another exciting chapter is about to begin........university. Eloise already has the results of the two Btec diplomas she took, she has two distinctions so she has enough UKAS points to study a four year degree in computing. If she gets an E or above in A’level geography she can do a 3 year course. I’m so proud of her, she has her struggles but overcomes them all without complaint. Eloise is a shining example that organ donation works ⭐️

Thinking of Zara and her family xxxx