C/O 17 Asher Reeds
Langton Green
Tunbridge Wells
Kent
TN3 0AL
United Kingdom

NB: this is a forwarding address for the Pal, we do NOT disclose home addresses

Email Pal

Faith M's Parents/Guardians

Alexis and Keith

Faith M's Siblings

Mae 11/08/03 Loves Moshi Monsters, cats, chickens and pop music.

Faith M's Interests

Music CD's, audio story books, body creams and the sounds of waves, the sea and birds. Faith cannot read but enjoys being read to.

Faith M's Favourite Colour

Pink and cream

Is Faith M able to read?

No

Is Faith M able to use hands?

No

Is Faith M visually/hearing impaired?

Yes

Does Faith M suffer from any developmental delay?

Yes

Impairment?

Faith is blind but is aware of flickers of light.

Development?

Faith has severe global developmental delay and is immobile. Faith has a mental age of around 2 and a half to three years of age.

Do not send

Sweets, chocolate

Story written 2011

Faith was born blind and severely epileptic. She had brain surgery when she was one to remove the focal point of the brain where the neurologists felt the epilepsy was originating from. Sadly they couldn’t remove it as it was on both left and right hemispheres of the brain.

Faith was able to sit but as her epilepsy worsened she is now totally immobile and in a wheelchair. Her bones are fragile and crumbling and she is due to have a big hip operation in September 2011 as her femur is not formed properly and her hip ball and socket joint is malformed.

Faith has a pulse generator in her chest with electrical currents constantly pulsating through a copper coil wrapped around her vagus nerve to try and control some of the seizures. Faith is highly medicated and is in a body brace and is fed by gastrostomy. She is non-verbal and her comprehension is limited.

However Faith is our beautiful angel. She is accepting and sweet. She listens to voices and her eyes sparkle when she is content. She loves cuddles, being sung to and having her hands and feet massaged.

Update 4th April 2012

Faith is having her VNS (vagus nerve stimulator) battery in her chest changed in Kings Hospital in the middle of April. She is also on the list for major spinal surgery. We will only be given 8 weeks notice prior to surgery and it will have to happen before this November 2012 when her severe scoliosis (crushing her organs) will have fused so surgery cannot happen after then. She will have 6 months to a year recovery. We are all extremely anxious but will have to wait for the date that could be any time. Her seizures are also keeping us very busy all through the nights at the moment. Not good for the bags under my eyes.

Debbie sends lovely cards and gifts to the girls. She is great. Claudia from Germany has sent us Lush cosmetic products so our house smells divine. Mae is crazy on cooking at the moment and drawing. Faith is enjoying the music cd's people send (thank you all!) and being pampered. Thank you to all of the wonderful people sending cards and gifts as it makes our day. The post is so exciting now!

Hope you all are okay and Happy Easter.

Update 27th October 2011

Thank you ever so much for the Halloween packs. We had screams of delight from Mae, and Faith had her ‘interested/what is going on’ face! Mae is putting the sticky bat and spiders in the porch already! They loved the spider web, bubbles and glow sticks too! It was a great surprise, thanks. Mae loves the skull ring lip gloss and Faith has ‘tracked’ the wonderful pumpkin glow stick. The best ever gift bags I have seen. It must have taken lots of hard work getting everything together. Tomorrow we are making the ghost chocolate lollies from the book!

Faith is getting a bit better every day. We’re just waiting to find out if her 2 scars are infected. She also has thrush from the antibiotics – not surprising.

Update 13th October 2011

Faith still has a temperature and is off epidural now. She is being sick but they are not sure if it is the morphine or infection. They will decide if we come out tomorrow (Friday) but it’ll probably be Saturday or Sunday. I will keep you posted.

Thanks for our post. Mae loved the Japanese card and we’re going to find out what it says.

Update 1st October 2011

Faith has had her pre op assessment (bloods, X-rays, etc) and it is all go for the hip reconstruction on 11th October!

Faith has enjoyed being in the garden lately with her feet in a bucket of cool water. Her sister Mae joined in and splashed everyone.

The cards, personalized or handmade, are super and so so clever. Thank you everyone for your kindness. All letters are so lovely to receive and exciting to see them arrive by the postman. Faith received a super light up lamp - thank you. It is a multicoloured lava /glitter lamp and is brilliant. It can go right up to her face and lights it up and Faith loves it! We have also just received the letter about Dotty the Dalmatian and the girls are both so excited about getting a puppy in the post! Thank you.

Update 12th September 2011

Faith is having a complicated operation on 11th October. She is having her leg (femur) broken and a triangle taken out of it and a bone graft from her hip bone to reform her ball and socket joint. She will have to have rehabilitation for a month and lots and lots of pain killers. This is because her bones are like honeycomb and crumbling inside and her hip is about to dislocate if she does not have this operation to re-align it.

Please could everyone send her good luck and wish her well for the operation. It has been a year in the planning and fingers crossed it all goes well.