Kristian

Our world fell apart last August when we lost our precious son Kristian, aged 10, as the result of a brain haemorrhage.

During the darkest days of our lives, Kristian’s dad and I can only remember through the blur, the love shown by the Paediatric Intensive Care staff at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital to both Kristian and all our families. We cannot praise the staff there enough. We should like to extend our utmost thanks to Kay Hawkins, Kristian’s consultant, who spent so much of her precious time trying to explain to us how this dreadful occurrence had happened and also trying to reassure us that there was nothing that anyone could have done to prevent it. Our thanks also extends to Angela Blenkinsopp for her continued support.

When we heard that the New Children’s Hospital Critical Care Unit needed a portable CT scanner and Clinical Information System, for the cost of £1 million and that the purchase of these relied on donations, we couldn’t think of a better way to keep Kristian’s memory alive. The scanner is desperately needed to avoid having to move children suffering from brain injuries, like Kristian’s, or as a result of an accident, off the Paediatric ICU for their scans.

Since then, thanks to so many people who wanted to show how much they cared for Kristian, we have raised over £5000 for ManCCCf.

• We asked for donations in lieu of Kristian’s funeral flowers;
• Our local pub did a charity event at Christmas;
• Kristian’s dad, uncle and work colleagues did the Manchester 10K;
• Kristian’s childminder took all the children she looks after (some us young as two years old!) on a sponsored walk;
• And most recently Kristian’s classmates did a sponsored run at Eastlands City Ground.

These events have been particularly hard for Kristian’s dad and myself, and all involved, but we know how desperately this money is needed by ManCCCf and we will continue to raise funds until the target for these most important bits of hospital equipment are reached.

Kristian’s death has left a huge hole, not only in our lives, but in the lives of everyone who knew him.

We hope, that in some small measure, our loss can come to mean something to some other parents, who because of the money that we have helped raise, is not put in the hideous condition that we find ourselves in now.

Norma