Making arrangements for Jessica’s final journey

The last week has been such a huge rollercoaster of emotions. There are times when we can’t quite believe that Jessica has gone and then in the next moment, reality hits and we are consumed by our pain. Sophie has been coping well on the whole, but she does now realise that Jessica will not be coming home again and there are moments when she breaks her little heart over the loss of her sister and playmate.

We are thankful that we were able to visit Jessica at Wexham Park a couple of times before she was transferred to the John Radcliffe last Wednesday. The post-mortem was carried out on Thursday and at present, the cause of her death remains unknown. The pathologist has taken tissue samples for testing and it will be a few weeks before we know the results from these. In the meantime though, the coroner has been able to issue an interim death certificate to allow us to go ahead with funeral arrangements.



We will be having a celebration of Jessica’s life at our church in Uxbridge (Christ Church) on Friday 18th May in the early afternoon. Jessica will then be taken to GreenAcres Chiltern woodland burial ground in Seer Green which will be her final resting place. This will then be followed by a wake somewhere nearby. We will confirm the details of timing and locations on this blog once we know them ourselves. It would help us if you could let us know if you would like to attend the celebration and/or the wake after Jessica’s burial by filling in the form here. This is just so we have an idea of rough numbers to expect which will help us with some of the practical arrangements.

Thank you all so much for your love and support since Jessica’s passing. We have received so many cards, flowers and little gifts for Sophie and your kind words have helped us know that we are surrounded by love and prayers. Thank you too to everyone who donated to the JustGiving page which has raised over £6,000 (inc. Gift Aid) for Little Hearts Matter.

Journey's end

This is the post that I always feared I would one day have to write. It breaks my heart to be writing it now. Our beautiful Jessica passed away in the early hours of this morning. She had been unwell on and off for several weeks after returning to school. We had several doctor’s visits, a couple of trips to hospital and an emergency admission earlier this week. When she was discharged on Thursday with a big bag of meds, we thought that these would finally help her start to get better. Sadly, it was not to be.


Last night, she woke up coughing and came for a snuggle in our bed. She complained that her back and tummy hurt and then suddenly she stopped breathing. We called 999, tried CPR which the paramedics and A&E staff continued but to no avail. Our beautiful Jessica was gone.

To say we are heartbroken is an understatement. We are devastated beyond belief and yet thankful that we had six and a half wonderful years with this beautiful little girl of ours. Seven years ago, we were told that she would not survive for more than a few days. To have had so long with her was a huge blessing. We thank God for every day we had with her. No amount of time would ever have been enough though.

We were lucky to be able to enjoy a family holiday with Jessica in the last couple of weeks and we made some wonderful memories which we will treasure forever.


Sophie has been our little ray of sunshine. We don’t think she fully understands yet – she knows that Jessica is in hospital and that Mummy and Daddy are sad and miss her, but I don’t think that she yet realises that Jessica will not be coming home again.


Our beautiful girl is now out of pain – no more breathlessness, no more struggles with energy. Her special heart is whole again but ours will always have a big Jessica-sized hole which can never be filled.

Thank you so much for all your kind messages of support and love on social media today. We know that we are surrounded by love and prayers and we are eternally grateful for that. Please, please keep talking about Jessica. Don’t ever feel afraid to mention her name. She is our little girl, she is part of our family and we will want to talk about her, to remember her, to relive all those beautiful memories. We know that many of you feel that you have no words, that you may not know what to say. The fact that you are letting us know that you care is enough.


One of Louise’s blogging friends has kindly set up a JustGiving page in Jessica’s memory to raise money for Little Hearts Matter. They have supported us so much through this journey and we know they will continue to do so in our bereavement.


Jessica will be going to the John Radcliffe on Monday for a post-mortem to determine the cause of her death. It seems appropriate that the hospital where this journey first started; the hospital that gave us that first glimmer of hope is the hospital to give that final piece of information about her life.


We will update again when we have more information. Thank you all again so much for your support and love. It means a lot to know that Jessica touched so many hearts in her short life. She was truly a joy-carrier and we were so blessed to have been her mummy and daddy.