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Stop Gigi from being harmed by Lewisham Hospital

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Hello Everyone

I'm raising money to help with possible legal fees for my daughter, Jehan (Gigi).

Jehan has just turned 17  and has been on the Children's Ward in our local hospital for over 15 weeks, with severe M.E.  M.E stands for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.  It's also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), or Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome.

M.E. is not just 'feeling tired'.   In its severe form, which Gigi has, people can't do any activity for themselves.    

Just after Christmas 2017, Gigi got the flu.  This was just your everyday flu and we thought she would shake it off.  But she didn't.  Instead, she began complaining of feeling tired and over the next 10 months, her condition got worse and worse.   Eventually, she couldn't do anything for herself.  She couldn't come downstairs, she couldn't wash or dress herself, she couldn't attend school and she couldn't play with her dog, Chally. She eventually became too tired even to eat or drink and she stopped talking.

After 10 months of trying to persuade medics that Gigi was ill,  and that it wasnt' "all in her mind", she was eventually admitted to hospital, with a body-weight so low we were told she was "at risk of death".  In order to save her life, she was fitted with a Naso-Gastric (NG tube).

Gigi has been in hospital for nearly four months. She has recovered her body-weight, but is still being fed by tube, is unable to move, or care for herself and still cannot talk.  The very NHS, who for months would not help us, are now making it difficult for Gigi to return home and are talking about sending her to an adolescent psychiatric unit!  We have fully co-operated with the hospital and have been trained in how to carry out Gigi's personal care and to manage her NG tube feeding.

We are asking for your help, because we may need to fight a legal battle to get Gigi back home with her brothers and the rest of the family.  We want to have legal representation so that  Gigi has someone who can 'speak' out for her, who knows the law in this area.

Prior to falling ill, Gigi was a vibrant and active teenager.  She had ambitions to be a writer and at just 14, had created her own website and had stories for sale on iTunes. When the M.E struck, Gigi had nearly completed her first book. She was also teaching herself Norweigan, because she had a dream to live in a house by a fjord and be a writer (she had actually started saving up for it!).

Gigi is now desperate to come home.  We, her family, are desperate to have her home, and Chally, misses her too!   We believe  Gigi can best recover in the bosom of her family and not in a hospital ward, or God forbid, a psychiatric unit.  Please help us get Gigi home, so she can play with her dog, argue with her big brother about emptying the dishwasher and try to recover her life.   I'm dreaming that  one day she will be able  buy her house on a  fjord in Norway and finish her novel!

If we don't need to use the money on legal fees, we will use it to help pay for Carers when Gigi gets home.  Although we as her family will do everything we can, she will likely need extra care, so your donations will help fund this too, if not provided for us.

(In the event that we don't need the funds, for either legal representation or home care, we will donate  to an ME research charity.)

Thank you all SO much.

Gigi's Family.
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Donations 

  • Patricia de Wolfe
    • £30 
    • 5 yrs
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Organizer

Dionne Pamela Joseph
Organizer
England

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