Hello there guys, my names Zoe and I am raising money to help a very close family’s dreams come true and I would like to share their story with you.

 

My goal is to achieve the money to help them get away on the holiday they’ve had to cancel twice already due to Covid and ill health, the family believe the holiday has been cancelled for a 3rd time due finances and I would like to surprise them by raising the funds to send them on their dream holiday, a break they truly deserve.

 

Amber and Clayton’s journey has been very difficult from pregnancy all the way through both their lives, Amber is now 6 and will be turning 7 in July, Clayton is 2 and will be turning 3 the 28th of this month.

 

Shelli became pregnant with Amber in November 2014, very early on Shelli was made high risk due to bleeds and a scan picking up an abnormality in Amber.

After many extra scans and visits to the hospital Shelli finally gave birth to a very small Amber 2 weeks early weighing just 4lb 13oz. Amber was taken straight to the Neonatal Ward where she stayed for 4 weeks.

 

 

 

Amber finally came home but had to have numerous check ups at the hospital. On 7.10.15 Shelli and Jay attended a heart scan opp with Amber at the RVI in Newcastle to receive the sad news that Amber was very poorly and needed a major heart operation ASAP and the severity was weighed out that if they had missed that appointment Amber may have not made the night.

 

Amber was admitted to the ward straight away and put on a oxygen machine and all the relevant machines to keep her alive whilst they prepared her for her operation which took place the following day on the 8.10.15. The operation was very successful.

 

 

 

 

Amber was kept in hospital for 4 weeks where she was looked after by the amazing team, when she came home Amber was fed through a tube through her nose.

 

Unfortunately Amber was losing weight and not getting the proteins and nutrients she needed through the tube due to her being sick after every feed and not eating orally due to the tube down her throat. The tube would also come back up with the sick and Shelli would have to re-insert it causing ambers nostrils and throat to become very inflamed and sore causing more pain.

 

 

Amber had a peg fitted on the 29.11.16 due to previous problems with her nose tube and stayed in hospital for 4 days to teach Shelli and jay how to use/take care and clean it to prevent infection.

 

This gave Amber the freedom to try foods and stop her from being so sick all the time, Unfortunately it took Amber nearly 2 years to eat regularly a substantial amount of food and liquids before they could remove the peg. The peg was removed on 27.9.18.

 

 

Amber has since still struggled with her eating and weight and is still very small for her age she currently fits in size 3-4/4-5 clothes. Amber has numerous problems with her eyes and has recently been put on the register for the partially blind.

 

Amber is a very sweet, loving girl but spending her life playing catch up and being very behind developmentally and physically she struggles academically and sometimes socialising and doing things kids her age find so easy to do.

 

In 2018 Shelli and jay had planned to take Amber on her first holiday after everything she had been through and finally getting better. This was planned for over her 4th birthday for a surprise in 2019 paying monthly instalment’s to pay for it but even on contraception Shelli fell pregnant with Clayton.

 

Through the beginning of the pregnancy Shelli and Clayton were both doing great and had no complications at all and Shelli was given the all clear that if everything went to plan she would still be able to go on holiday so they continued to pay the monthly payments to go away as this would be ambers first and last holiday with it just being her and mummy and daddy.

 

Unfortunately in April 2019 Shelli took a turn for the worst and starting bleeding badly and was taken into hospital which meant they had to unfortunately cancel the holiday which resulted in them losing a lot of money.

After being taken to hospital she stayed there for 5 days under observation to try and keep Clayton inside her for as long as possible after 5 very exhausting painful days Shelli gave birth to a tiny Clayton on 28.4.2019 weighing 2lb 1oz and 16 weeks premature.

 

 

 

 

Clayton like Amber was taken straight to the neonatal ward where he was put straight on oxygen machines and feeding tubes.

 

 

Clayton was kept in neonatal ward where he was closely monitored some days were really bad days and didn’t think that he would make it but the good days out weighed the bad and after 100 days Clayton was allowed to go home with his oxygen.

 

 

 

Clayton eventually came off his oxygen 21.9.19.

 

Clayton has had one problem after another all through his life, he was born with a head larger than what is deemed as ‘normal’ when he was in neonatal Clayton was laid for a long period on one side of his head causing his head to become an abnormal shape. A helmet was suggested to fix this but the family could not afford this but we’re also told that he had other problems and the helmet may make these worse.

 

 

Due to the size and abnormality of Clayton’s head sitting and balancing was a massive challenge for him and needed the help from specialised equipment to help him sit and walk and do all the things the average child would do themselves.

 

Clayton see specialists regularly and and unfortunately they have found cysts at the front of Clayton’s head pushing on his brain, due to this Clayton’s eyes flicker, one eye turns in and he has sight problems which they are yet to find out the extent of, he currently wears eye patches and glasses which he is incredibly cute in.

 

Clayton is doing really well despite all his set back but does still struggle to hold his head up all the time which can make him fall over from time to time. He is a very very happy little boy but like Amber is very behind physically and developmentally.

 

Clayton is very much still on his journey and has a long way to go but doing such an amazing job.

 

Even though both children are doing well the pair still spend a lot of time in hospital due to poor immune systems.

With both children both starting to do well, the family decided to rebook a holiday to take the children on after everything they had both been through but unfortunately for them they were left in disappointment again and had to cancel due to Covid again losing more money.

 

After everything Amber and her brother have been through amber is such an inspiration and raises money for The Sick Children’s Trust who helped the family whilst amber was in ICU and then in hospital for the weeks after her operation.

 

Not only that Amber and my niece Penny raised money and collected presents for less fortunate children in our local area last Christmas. Amber stood every night in the local Tesco with her money box and trolley. Amber made a massive impact and raised over £1000 worth of presents and distributed them to local care homes, hospitals, woman’s refuges and Zoe’s place hospice. With such a selfless act and not realising the difference she’s made I really believe she deserves her birthday dream to come true.

The family lived in a second floor flat with no lift and with two kids one with oxygen tanks which had to go everywhere with him they were also struggling with the battle of being moved which made every day even more of a struggle as Shelli struggled to leave the flat on her own as she had 2 children, a pushchair, oxygen tanks all down the stairs. As well as this to make sure they could afford to live the only way round working with the amount of commitment needed for the children Shelli would work nights and jay would work days while Shelli looked after the children until jay came home when she get a couple of hours sleep this physically, emotionally and mentally drained Shelli. 

 

The period in between having Amber and Clayton, Shelli unfortunately had a miscarriage which was a very upsetting time.

The whole family have suffered financially, physically, emotionally and mentally very hard in the last couple of years and I really believe that all 4 of them deserve this break, after seeing how upset amber was when she was told they would not be going it really broke my heart especially after a couple of months ago amber and penny’s pony was put to sleep and she really deserves something to look forward to!

 

I have set a target to hit and would love to smash it and go beyond the target to help Amber to continue to donate to a charity so close to the families heart.

 

I would like to thank you all for taking the time reading their story. If you could spare anything it would be much appreciated if you can’t every little helps even a like and a share, the money has to be paid by the beginning ofJune. I know it is a lot of money but I know with all you amazing people out there we can make this happen!

I would like to just say that the family know absolutely nothing about this as far as they are aware the holiday has been cancelled.

 

Some of you may have seen Amber and Clayton in our lives so please don’t be shy and come and say hello!

 

Thank you all so much✌️

 

#cwfamalam