#Draw me!

I am not really sure where to start here, or where this will go! I can imagine by the end of the post, I am likely to have gone through a few tissues , and possibly may cause you to do the same but here goes…

Our baby niece Leia was born on the 8th January 2015 with a congenital heart problem called Pulmonary Stenosis. Leia’s condition went undiagnosed until 24hours after she was born. Leia was transferred from The Trevor Mann unit in Brighton to The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St Thomas in London on Friday 9th January 2015.

Leia had surgery to correct her tiny heart when she was just 4 days old, she was amazing and her medical team were so very proud of her. As were her mummy and daddy (Vickie and Simon) and our wider family. But sadly one week later, despite every indication that she was making a full and speedy recovery,  our beautiful baby girl fell asleep and never woke up. The medical team at St Thomas’ tried so hard to bring her back to us, but sadly we had to let her go. Vickie held her whilst she slipped away, and is so glad she could be there with her for every step of her short journey through life. She was so brave and so beautiful!

Nothing ever prepares you for the shocking and heart wrenching grief you feel when you lose a child. It broke my heart to see such close members of our family reeling with the shock of loosing someone who is so so precious.

                                                

The days and weeks following Leia’s death were the darkest for many members of our family, yet even through this heart ache people were compelled to remember Leia in their own special way. Leia’s daddy Simon, began to draw pencil sketches of his precious girl- he let the pencil do the work! This was his way of finding some comfort. Little did he know he was so talented with in this field!

My husband Scott, who is the least soppiest person I know, wrote the most amazing poem for Leia  which he read at her farewell service.  I too, penned a few words that just came from my heart!

               

You are probably reading this thinking what the heck has it got to do with early years education, and why I have decided to allow you the access to such a heart breaking time in our lives.

Well this is where you can help:

For those of you that are avid readers of my blog, you will know my innate passion and zest for Early Years Education. So I began to think of how I could link the two. Ever since that devastating day, I have been thinking of ways in which I can help Vickie and Simon, whilst raising awareness and thanking  the medical team at St Thomas’s London, who did ALL they could to save our beautiful girl.

So here we have it… #drawme

What do you need to do?

• Get a child (any child, your own, niece, nephew grandchild, child in your class, or any random child off the street- ok maybe not)
• Get them to draw a picture of you! It has to be their own interpretation of you, and can be done via any medium.
• Take a picture of yourself holding your #drawme portait

• Post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterset etc etc with the #drawme

• Text TOGETHER to 70800   or go to http://www.togetherwecan.org.uk/guys-thomas-hospitals/donate

• Tag as many people as you can think of that would be up for this hilarious challenge!

• Include this blog address so peeps know the cause…  https://eyfsmatters.wordpress.com/

Let’s get our children drawing…

• using imagination
• exploring colour
• noticing detail
• changing ideas
• having fun
• developing fine motor control
• feeling proud

Here’s mine…

Thank you for your help

Pennie Parry

https://www.facebook.com/eyfs.matters

https://twitter.com/eyfsmatters

https://instagram.com/eyfsmatters/

In Memory of Leia Victoria Parry

“Our perfect little Angel”