Sally’s Story
Sally and her husband both had full time jobs working in IT. Sally was considered an expert in her field and loved her work.
A year after they married, their first child Sadie was born. The day she was born, Sally was enjoying spending time with her new born baby when Sadie suddenly started to turn blue. She was rushed to the neonatal unit where she was put into an induced coma and cooled to protect her brain and organs. After extensive checks, Sally was told that Sadie’s chance of survival was 50% and if she did survive it was likely that she would be blind, unable to walk or talk and would have a poor quality of life.
Sally and Sadie remained in hospital on a ward surrounded by other new-born babies which Sally found extremely hard to deal with. At 2 weeks old, Sadie was able to go home as she’d shown some signs of improvement.
Throughout the following weeks and months, Sadie started to develop but cried constantly, only sleeping for 45 minutes at a time and continually needed comforting. Sally and her husband were exhausted and found the situation very hard to cope with. Over the coming months, Sadie learnt to sit and crawl but at 10 months had a seizure. The seizure meant she had to start from scratch and learn how to do everything again. Sally tried taking her to playgroups and activities but she would either get too cold or constantly cry. At 14 months, Sadie was diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy. At 18 months, she was also diagnosed with hearing problems. With help from nursery, Sadie learnt to roll, crawl, and finally walk.
When Sadie was 2 years and 10 months old, Sally fell pregnant with her second child. Sally fell into a deep depression after the birth, and her health visitor referred her Home-Start for some support. Home-Start volunteer Jenny was introduced, and started visiting weekly to support Sally and her family. Sally talked and cried to Jenny but welcomed the support as she felt this was the only help she had received in years.
Jenny helped Sally to get organised in the home, helped take the children to the park which is something Sally struggled to do alone. Sally explained how Jenny helped her reintegrate back into society and accept help from others. Jenny encouraged Sally to get help for her emotional needs, which resulted in Sally being diagnosed with severe clinical depression. Jenny also encouraged Sally to push for more help from organisations who assist with disabilities.
Jenny continued to support Sally for 18 months, after which time Sally felt like she was getting back on her feet.
Sally recently contacted Home-Start to express her thanks for Jenny’s support, and to tell us that she had been awarded a Doctorate, after 4 long years of study.
