A SIX-year-old girl is finally out of hospital and hitting the beach with her family.
A trip to Devon was a dream come true for Daisy Palmer, from Langdon Hills, who has left hospital after a six-month stay.
She spent half of this year hooked up to a feeding machine on a ward in the Royal London Hospital, in Whitechapel, East London.
The brave youngster has a rare illness, called chronic intestinal pseudo obstruction, which means she has to be fed intravenously.
Although she is not cured, she is now well enough to be allowed home and her mum, Tracy, and dad, Damon, both 39, have taken on the responsibility of looking after Daisy at their home in Burrs Close.
To celebrate, the family booked a holiday to the beach, where Daisy has been enjoying herself.
Damon said: “We weren’t sure we’d get there this year so it’s been wonderful. We had a lovely time.”
Daisy’s condition means she needs feeding with liquid food through a drip for 14 hours every day.
So as well as the usual holiday clothes and sun tan cream, Damon had to go down to the cottage they are renting a week early to get everything ready.
This included transporting a full-size fridge to the cottage for Daisy’s feeding bags. The parents then had to get permission from her doctors for Daisy to go.
Luckily they were given the go-ahead, and the youngster managed to play on the beach with her sister Megan, 11.
Dad Damon said the family was adjusting well to having Daisy out of hospital.
He said: “Daisy is so glad to be back and sleeping in her own bed. We’re just so thrilled she’s here.
“We’ve had to get smaller furniture for her room so we can fit in all the medical equipment.
“It is quite daunting – Tracy is basically doing the job of an intensive care nurse, and I’m learning too.
“It has changed our lives. Daisy has to be in bed and on the machine by 7pm every night, so we can’t go out in the evenings. But it’s just so good to have her home.”
He also said the family was hopeful in the future Daisy would only need to stay on the machine for 12 hours a day.
But the main hope comes from charity, Port, which funds research into Daisy’s condition, about which very little is known.
Damon said: “We really want to raise awareness and hopefully people will donate to find a cure or a better way of treating it.
“It’s the most natural thing in the world to put something in your mouth and eat it. People take it for granted.”
To find out more about the condition, visit www.port- charity.org.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here