Supporting families at Christmas

“At Chestnut, nothing is too much to ask, or too small to matter. They’re here for our whole family whenever we need them and we cannot thank them enough.”

Those are the words of Claire and Dean, whose one-year-old daughter Leah died from a rare disease in 2022, following a devastating diagnosis on Christmas Eve.

When Leah was just eight months old, she started missing milestones, like crawling, and stopped putting on weight. A sudden respiratory arrest at a routine weight check led to the revelation that their precious daughter would not make it to her second birthday.

Leah was referred to us, and while the family had imagined a hospital-type setting, they found something quite different.

The nurses placed fairy lights in Leah’s room, and the family could take her on walks around the beautiful grounds.

Leah did so well under Chestnut’s care that she was able to go on the long road trip to her grandmother’s house in Coventry. It was there she died, surrounded by her family and all the love in the world.

We couldn’t do any of this without the backing of our local community, so a huge thank you to everyone who is supporting us this Christmas, or any time of year.

Visit: www.chestnut.org.uk/Leahs-story

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