Love for laura
Donation protected
My name is Jenni and I’ve created this ‘Go Fund Me’ page for my little sister Laura Duran Smith, following on from lots of requests from friends and family who want to support Laura, her husband Jay and her little boy Oscar at this incredibly difficult time.
This is Laura’s Story.
Laura began to get abdominal pains back in 2015 that she put down to the IBS she’d suffered with for a number of years, as the pain began to get increasingly worse she sort help from her GP, after a referral to the hospital and a multitude of tests she was diagnosed with a large cyst in her abdomen that would require surgery to drain. The cyst however came back and further investigations revealed a tumour, it was thought that the cyst had been growing inside the tumour. Surgery in November 2016 identified a tumour the size of a grapefruit that had attached to a number of Laura’s internal organs, this surgery left her in a lot of pain but she approached it in her usual sunny way and we all prayed that the tumour was benign...it was and so Laura was excited about 2017 and what the future would bring.
In true Laura style she started planning her 30th Birthday Celebrations for September early in 2017 to make sure that we would all save the date and share the occasion with her, it turns out we had more than just her 30th birthday to celebrate as she shared the news that her and Jay were expecting a much wanted and loved baby brother or sister for Oscar, we were all delighted.
Other than morning sickness Laura’s pregnancy progressed well and a scan revealed that they were having a baby girl, everything was perfect and preparations for baby girl Duran Smith were underway, until last week when Laura started to suffer with back pain. A routine midwife appointment on Wednesday revealed that Laura was a little bit small for dates so she was booked into Ormskirk hospital for monitoring the following day. The pain got increasingly worse but premature labour was ruled out and Laura was sent home. A couple of hours later the pain was that bad that they returned back to hospital.
Fast forward to just over 24 hours later Laura was blue lighted from Ormskirk Maternity Ward to Southport Hospital for Emergency Surgery, it transpired that scar tissue had grown around her small bowel causing it to die, it had then perforated and she had a severe septic infection resulting in the removal of 17ft of her bowel, she was given a stoma, a feeding line and placed on life support in ICU. Jay her husband was given the news that Laura was fighting for her life and that tragically their baby daughter had not survived, she was later delivered by Caesarean Section and named Isabella.
The days that followed have passed by in a blur, thankfully Laura is now awake and off life support but has had to deal with the heartbreaking news about her daughter growing her angel wings and her own health, she is a fighter and will continue to be for her husband and beautiful boy.
Laura’s road to recovery both emotionally and physically is going to be a long one, with a lot of time in hospital in other parts of the country. By creating this page I am hoping that we can ease the financial burden ever so slightly for things like hospital parking, fuel, accommodation for Jay and Oscar visiting Laura once transferred and other unforeseen expenses that the family may incur.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support, Jenni x
This is Laura’s Story.
Laura began to get abdominal pains back in 2015 that she put down to the IBS she’d suffered with for a number of years, as the pain began to get increasingly worse she sort help from her GP, after a referral to the hospital and a multitude of tests she was diagnosed with a large cyst in her abdomen that would require surgery to drain. The cyst however came back and further investigations revealed a tumour, it was thought that the cyst had been growing inside the tumour. Surgery in November 2016 identified a tumour the size of a grapefruit that had attached to a number of Laura’s internal organs, this surgery left her in a lot of pain but she approached it in her usual sunny way and we all prayed that the tumour was benign...it was and so Laura was excited about 2017 and what the future would bring.
In true Laura style she started planning her 30th Birthday Celebrations for September early in 2017 to make sure that we would all save the date and share the occasion with her, it turns out we had more than just her 30th birthday to celebrate as she shared the news that her and Jay were expecting a much wanted and loved baby brother or sister for Oscar, we were all delighted.
Other than morning sickness Laura’s pregnancy progressed well and a scan revealed that they were having a baby girl, everything was perfect and preparations for baby girl Duran Smith were underway, until last week when Laura started to suffer with back pain. A routine midwife appointment on Wednesday revealed that Laura was a little bit small for dates so she was booked into Ormskirk hospital for monitoring the following day. The pain got increasingly worse but premature labour was ruled out and Laura was sent home. A couple of hours later the pain was that bad that they returned back to hospital.
Fast forward to just over 24 hours later Laura was blue lighted from Ormskirk Maternity Ward to Southport Hospital for Emergency Surgery, it transpired that scar tissue had grown around her small bowel causing it to die, it had then perforated and she had a severe septic infection resulting in the removal of 17ft of her bowel, she was given a stoma, a feeding line and placed on life support in ICU. Jay her husband was given the news that Laura was fighting for her life and that tragically their baby daughter had not survived, she was later delivered by Caesarean Section and named Isabella.
The days that followed have passed by in a blur, thankfully Laura is now awake and off life support but has had to deal with the heartbreaking news about her daughter growing her angel wings and her own health, she is a fighter and will continue to be for her husband and beautiful boy.
Laura’s road to recovery both emotionally and physically is going to be a long one, with a lot of time in hospital in other parts of the country. By creating this page I am hoping that we can ease the financial burden ever so slightly for things like hospital parking, fuel, accommodation for Jay and Oscar visiting Laura once transferred and other unforeseen expenses that the family may incur.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support, Jenni x
Organizer and beneficiary
Jenni Smith
Organizer
James Duran Smith
Beneficiary
