Hello!

I’d like to introduce you to the amazing Jeanie Lou, my gorgeous great niece! Can’t believe she’s over 3 months old already. In that time she has more than proved herself a determined little warrior, fighting bigger battles than most of us grownups ever do.

At the 20 week scan it was noticed that she hadn’t developed an oesophagus. As you can imagine this shocked her young parents to the core. To their absolute credit they have taken this in their stride and even though this is their first baby they have both been incredibly strong, resilient and positive.

Being the complex little lady she is they needed a solid birth plan and highly specialised care. So mum, Hannah, went from her hometown, Barrow-in-Furness, into Manchester hospital weeks before her due date to ensure Jeanie arrived safely, which happily she did towards the end of July. However they have been in Manchester hospital ever since.

Jeanie can’t swallow milk or saliva so needs machines to tube feed her directly into her stomach and to prevent fluid going into her lungs.

A plan was in place to do a big operation to create an oesophagus, Jeanie and her parents just had to be patient while Jeanie grew strong enough to handle the op.

The night before the big operation nurses woke Hannah to tell her Jeanie was very sick, they thought it was sepsis and it didn’t look good. In fact it was as bad as it can get for a newborn baby girl.

After an absolutely agonising wait while Jeanie was in theatre for 6 hours and critical for 48 hours, this determined little girl pulled through. Unbelievably the feeding tube had gone completely through her stomach and out the other side so liquid was filling up her tiny body.

They had to build her up again before they could do the big op. Another couple of weeks passed…

Incredibly the same thing happened again…

Another 4 hour operation to clean and repair …

Jeanie needs building up yet again before the big operation.

Unfortunately this means it’s not looking likely she’ll be home for Christmas.

During all these worrying months in hospital, which isn’t in their home town, her parents, Hannah and Darius, have been so brave. I’m full of admiration for them both.

I’m asking if you could please show them some support for Jeanie. They are a hard working young couple who had just got their first home together. They are patiently waiting to bring their little girl home but life is expensive and having to choose between working and being at their poorly baby’s side isn’t fair. It’s lonely without their families around and travel costs are colossal.

I’m hoping we can raise enough to pay their bills over Christmas to give them more time to be together as a family.

Maybe even enough to have an amazing second Christmas when Jeanie finally gets to come home.

Thank you so much for reading this and for your generosity.

Merry Christmas!

Kim McDonnell Xx