In Aid of our daughter Ellie

Hi. My names Gary Voaden & on behalf of myself and my partner Sophie Taylor we've created a Fundraiser in Aid of our daughter Ellie.

Ellie is 11 months & 1 week old (As of writing) and in May 2025, Ellie was officially diagnosed with Epilepsy!

Ellie has had a total of 7 Tonic-Clonic seizures (Big life threatening seizures) and has multiple Focal seizures (Smaller seizures) throughout the day and night on a regular basis, we've had to ring 999 before now and will no doubt have to again the moment a Tonic-Clonic seizure occurs (We've been told to expect more). Overnight Ellie is monitored by a camera so we have eye's on her at all times. Any one of these seizures can lead us back to hospital (or worse) and we're finding life extremely difficult.

Ellie needs 24/7 care due to the frequency & seriousness of the seizures, she has to have medication every morning and evening without fail (has its own awful side effects) and we have to administer emergency medication if seizures reach a duration of 5 minutes but the problem is we're not always there. I myself Dad (Gary) work full time of 37hrs per week and mum (Sophie) works 30hrs per week (Dropped recently from 37hrs for our daughter) and no different than any parent, it's a juggling act between ourselves, work and the nursery to make sure someone's always there for Ellie but since her diagnosis, everything from our level of stress, mental wellbeing, lack of sleep (we're lucky if we have any) and overall worry has increased 10 fold and we spend a lot of time in the hospital.

Although Ellie attends the nursery for 12hrs a week (Currently), the moment Ellie has any form of seizure we have to pick her up immediately. We have bare minimal help in the way of family and if anyone wishes to aid they have to have the relevant seizure training to do so.... we're basically on our own.

What's important is Ellie's safety, health and wellbeing and the fact that we as parents can't always be there for Ellie with her life threatening disability is a real issue and concern. We are currently looking into ways to see if it's possible for Sophie (Mum) to be able to stop work so she can be there for Ellie and to be honest.... it's not looking promising.

Ellie's epilepsy nurse has advised us to apply for DLA (Disability Living Allowance) and we're still waiting to hear back on that which also opens up the doors for carer's living allowance but even if approved, it adds up to less than statuary sick pay which isn't enough for us to pay our mortgage and we'll lose our home if we rely on that.

We as a couple like to think we've done are best, we've never asked for anything off of anyone and have always worked but where life has become so hard recently, it was a friend who advised us to try this and see what happens... put my pride aside so to speak and reach out to see if anyone will understand and aid if able.... so I'm giving it a shot and hoping for the best for the sake of my daughter.

If successful then the fundraiser money won't be used recklessly. I myself (Gary) will still continue to work full time and try my best to provide for my family.

Sophie will use that money so she can remain at home and be there for our daughter to make sure she's safe, looked after and react accordingly with any of the seizures especially if they escalate.

As parents we will always worry about our daughter as she is everything to us and if by some miracle we're successful with the fundraiser, it would mean everything and we'll forever be grateful as you'll be quite literally changing our lives for the sake of our daughter.

I hope our story reaches you.

Note; I've never really done anything like this before and I'm not sure what a realistic fundraiser goal would actually be but I've based it on what it would need to be for Mum to be there for our daughter.

Thank you