Dear Mr Cameron,
We were a normal run of the mill family until December 29th 2012.
We then became a bereaved family and life has never been the same since.
Our daughter, Carrie-ann Curtis became pregnant during 2012 and after the initial surprise we were all getting excited at the thought of becoming grandparents.
When Carrie went along to her first scan, our world was turned upside down. We were told that there was a problem with the baby, and Potters Syndrome ‘was eventually diagnosed. After several visits and scans we were told that the condition usually means that the baby is incompatible with life.
Carrie showed amazing strength and said that as long as her baby had a strong heart beat and was fighting to survive then she would also fight for his survival.
Unfortunately Charlie Arthur Curtis only managed to fight for 19 minutes after his birth on December 29th 2012. He showed so much strength and fight but the illness was too strong for him.
We left the hospital on the 31st December after spending quality family time with Charlie on the Rosemary Suite at Leeds General Infirmary.
Once we were out of the hospital we seemed to become invisible to the services. Carrie was given minimal support, only getting two midwife visits, despite her body still going through the same things every new mum experiences.
We have fought to get bereavement counselling for her but we kept getting pushed down the mental health route. Carrie was bereaved not mentally ill.
We have worked hard to campaign for improvements to bereavement support and have been lucky to get our local radio station behind us. We requested a freedom of information report into the provision of bereavement support within the Leeds area. When we got the reply it took our breath away. It showed that at the time of the report that there were 32,000 people awaiting grief counselling.
In March 2013 we decided to set up a charity in our grandsons name with the main aim being to set up a 24 hour bereavement centre. We also decided, due to our own experiences and those of other families we have come into contact with, to campaign for improvements to the current provisions of support for families going through a loss. We have attended meetings with our local NHS CCG and have set up an e-petition.
We are writing to you to ask if you could get behind us and give us your support and help the lives of thousands of families out there going through the hardest battles of their lives.
There needs to be a change.
We have had so many families contact us through our website (www.charlies-angel-centre.org.uk) and our social media sites telling us of their own experiences and lack of support.
Surely all these families deserve the correct care and support to help them deal with their losses.
We would be more than happy to talk to you about our experience and what we would like to achieve.
Yours sincerely
Gary & Ruth Curtis, Sam & Clive Key
(Charlie’s Grandparents
We were a normal run of the mill family until December 29th 2012.
We then became a bereaved family and life has never been the same since.
Our daughter, Carrie-ann Curtis became pregnant during 2012 and after the initial surprise we were all getting excited at the thought of becoming grandparents.
When Carrie went along to her first scan, our world was turned upside down. We were told that there was a problem with the baby, and Potters Syndrome ‘was eventually diagnosed. After several visits and scans we were told that the condition usually means that the baby is incompatible with life.
Carrie showed amazing strength and said that as long as her baby had a strong heart beat and was fighting to survive then she would also fight for his survival.
Unfortunately Charlie Arthur Curtis only managed to fight for 19 minutes after his birth on December 29th 2012. He showed so much strength and fight but the illness was too strong for him.
We left the hospital on the 31st December after spending quality family time with Charlie on the Rosemary Suite at Leeds General Infirmary.
Once we were out of the hospital we seemed to become invisible to the services. Carrie was given minimal support, only getting two midwife visits, despite her body still going through the same things every new mum experiences.
We have fought to get bereavement counselling for her but we kept getting pushed down the mental health route. Carrie was bereaved not mentally ill.
We have worked hard to campaign for improvements to bereavement support and have been lucky to get our local radio station behind us. We requested a freedom of information report into the provision of bereavement support within the Leeds area. When we got the reply it took our breath away. It showed that at the time of the report that there were 32,000 people awaiting grief counselling.
In March 2013 we decided to set up a charity in our grandsons name with the main aim being to set up a 24 hour bereavement centre. We also decided, due to our own experiences and those of other families we have come into contact with, to campaign for improvements to the current provisions of support for families going through a loss. We have attended meetings with our local NHS CCG and have set up an e-petition.
We are writing to you to ask if you could get behind us and give us your support and help the lives of thousands of families out there going through the hardest battles of their lives.
There needs to be a change.
We have had so many families contact us through our website (www.charlies-angel-centre.org.uk) and our social media sites telling us of their own experiences and lack of support.
Surely all these families deserve the correct care and support to help them deal with their losses.
We would be more than happy to talk to you about our experience and what we would like to achieve.
Yours sincerely
Gary & Ruth Curtis, Sam & Clive Key
(Charlie’s Grandparents
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