Help Poppy!
Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2016 11:52 pm
Hi Guys
I read about this tonight and was touched by Poppys story and felt the urge to do something to help. If some of you feel similarly there is a link below;
"I hope you don’t mind but I wanted to share with you all the story of Poppy Smith, aged 6. Her parents Laura and Mark are active supporters of the GOOD campaign, and the family live here in Gullane.
Poppy is a typical 6 year old. She has just started Primary 2 and loves arts and crafts, playing outside with her friends, bouncing on her trampoline in the garden, going on her scooter and trying to master cartwheels. Poppy also loves fairies!
On 21 September 2016 everything changed. Poppy was off school the day before with mild cold symptoms. By the next morning she was unable to swallow and her right arm was paralysed. By the time she arrived at the hospital the paralysis had progressed and over the course of 12 hours she was unable to move her neck, both upper limbs; was unable to breathe for herself and was weak in her torso and both legs.
Tests revealed that Poppy was suffering from Acute Flaccid Myelitis. This very rare condition is a complication of a common virus and causes inflammation and damage to the grey matter of the spinal cord. This means that the nerves taking messages from Poppy’s brain to her muscles are not working and this renders her paralysed. Unfortunately in Poppy’s case the muscles affected are those controlling speech, swallowing and breathing; as well as control of her limbs and some of her facial muscles.
Poppy was taken to intensive care where she was put on ventilator to keep her alive.
8 weeks on and Poppy remains in intensive care. She is now intubated through a tracheostomy in her neck. She has already been affected with many complications of AFM including a hospital acquired wound infection, skin and urinary tract infections, collapsed lungs and high blood pressure. She has to endure daily painful blood tests, tape and tube changes, frequent trips to the operating theatre, medicines which make her feel sick or sleepy, and intensive physiotherapy which is painful and tiring.
Her brain is completely unaffected so Poppy understands everything that is happening but is unable to speak as her voice is absent due to a combination of the AFM and the endotracheal tube.
However, Poppy is alive and is a courageous, brave, bright and strong little girl with a life ahead of her.
As AFM is so rare the level of recovery remains uncertain but doctors think it likely that Poppy will require long-term home ventilation. She will need 24 hour care, adaptations to her home to enable wheelchair access, hoists and other equipment.
As a community we would like to raise as much money as possible to help with some of these expenses and especially to enable her communication and her mobility. We are hoping at the very least to fund a digital communication tech package for poppy and a bespoke wheelchair.
To this end some of The Smith’s friends have set up a crowdfunding page to raise money for Poppy. We have also set up a facebook page and a twitter account to spread the word and harness as much community support as possible.
I would be very grateful if you could take a moment to read about Poppy, donate if you can and spread the word via email/social media.
http://goodorg.us13.list-manage.com/tra ... 973193b7c3
http://goodorg.us13.list-manage.com/tra ... 973193b7c3
Twitter @teampoppy1
#TeamPoppy
Many thanks"
Andy
I read about this tonight and was touched by Poppys story and felt the urge to do something to help. If some of you feel similarly there is a link below;
"I hope you don’t mind but I wanted to share with you all the story of Poppy Smith, aged 6. Her parents Laura and Mark are active supporters of the GOOD campaign, and the family live here in Gullane.
Poppy is a typical 6 year old. She has just started Primary 2 and loves arts and crafts, playing outside with her friends, bouncing on her trampoline in the garden, going on her scooter and trying to master cartwheels. Poppy also loves fairies!
On 21 September 2016 everything changed. Poppy was off school the day before with mild cold symptoms. By the next morning she was unable to swallow and her right arm was paralysed. By the time she arrived at the hospital the paralysis had progressed and over the course of 12 hours she was unable to move her neck, both upper limbs; was unable to breathe for herself and was weak in her torso and both legs.
Tests revealed that Poppy was suffering from Acute Flaccid Myelitis. This very rare condition is a complication of a common virus and causes inflammation and damage to the grey matter of the spinal cord. This means that the nerves taking messages from Poppy’s brain to her muscles are not working and this renders her paralysed. Unfortunately in Poppy’s case the muscles affected are those controlling speech, swallowing and breathing; as well as control of her limbs and some of her facial muscles.
Poppy was taken to intensive care where she was put on ventilator to keep her alive.
8 weeks on and Poppy remains in intensive care. She is now intubated through a tracheostomy in her neck. She has already been affected with many complications of AFM including a hospital acquired wound infection, skin and urinary tract infections, collapsed lungs and high blood pressure. She has to endure daily painful blood tests, tape and tube changes, frequent trips to the operating theatre, medicines which make her feel sick or sleepy, and intensive physiotherapy which is painful and tiring.
Her brain is completely unaffected so Poppy understands everything that is happening but is unable to speak as her voice is absent due to a combination of the AFM and the endotracheal tube.
However, Poppy is alive and is a courageous, brave, bright and strong little girl with a life ahead of her.
As AFM is so rare the level of recovery remains uncertain but doctors think it likely that Poppy will require long-term home ventilation. She will need 24 hour care, adaptations to her home to enable wheelchair access, hoists and other equipment.
As a community we would like to raise as much money as possible to help with some of these expenses and especially to enable her communication and her mobility. We are hoping at the very least to fund a digital communication tech package for poppy and a bespoke wheelchair.
To this end some of The Smith’s friends have set up a crowdfunding page to raise money for Poppy. We have also set up a facebook page and a twitter account to spread the word and harness as much community support as possible.
I would be very grateful if you could take a moment to read about Poppy, donate if you can and spread the word via email/social media.
http://goodorg.us13.list-manage.com/tra ... 973193b7c3
http://goodorg.us13.list-manage.com/tra ... 973193b7c3
Twitter @teampoppy1
#TeamPoppy
Many thanks"
Andy
donated... tugs at the heart strings too. Its scary to experience the true costs when such situations arrise. We lost our 2nd daughter Isabell after 6mths due to a complications during birth. The out come she we severly disabled, would never be able to feed herself along side many other things. Her life expectancy was unknown and even in the first 6 mths of her life the costs for life depending equipment at home, transportation and hospital medication soon began to mount up. 
thanks for sharing 
