TWO very special little girls have inspired a charity mission to complete the Three Peaks Challenge.
A team completed the challenge earlier in September and money raised will go towards a vein finder for St Mary’s Hospital.
One has already been purchased for the Children’s Ward, in honour of three-year-old Phoebe Bradley, but it isn't always possible for children in A&E to access it, so another is being fundraised for, to stay in Children’s A&E.
The new equipment will be called Esme’s Light after another amazing little girl.
When Esme was born in March 2016, she suffered a very traumatic brain injury. As a result she now has an umbrella of diagnoses — dystonic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, multi symptomatic vocal seizures and severe cortical vision impairment (she is registered blind).
Due to her complex needs, Esme has open access to the Children's Ward, however if she goes in via ambulance she has no choice, but to go to the A&E department.
She has poor veins and having had many needles in the last four years means they have a lot of scarring, which makes it difficult to get blood from her.
The vein finder in Phoebe's name, Phoebe's Light, has worked wonders in the Children's Ward.
Phoebe's dad Pete, who was one of the Three Peaks team, said: "After liaising with the hospital we discussed it wouldn't always be possible to bring it down to A&E. We thought it would be better if we could have a separate one just for using on the children admitted to A&E.
"Phoebe has just celebrated her third birthday and is starting nursery school at Medina House in September which we can’t believe and never thought we would see. She is an absolute superstar!
"The Three Peaks Challenge was completed in 23 hours and 33mins. The team all said it was the hardest thing they had ever done."
There's still time to donate money. Go to justgiving.com/fundraising/phoebeslightsthrepeakschallenge
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