Our beautiful daughter Jessica was born in September 2011 with a severe heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. This was diagnosed at her 20 week scan and we were initially told that she was unlikely to be suitable for surgery. However, a pioneering in-utero operation at 28 weeks to enlarge a hole in her atrial septum was carried out and she was able to make it to term and get through her first open-heart surgery at just eight hours old. Jessica underwent five more surgeries during her life. Her final surgery - the Fontan procedure - took place in December 2017. She initially made a good recovery but sadly passed away suddenly on 14th April 2018 at the age of 6. This is the story of a little girl whose half a heart overflowed with love. She was, and will forever be, our little miracle and brought joy to all who knew her.

Monday 3 June 2013

Photoshoots and postboxes



May has been a lovely sociable month for Jessica with lots of visits from and to friends and family.  She met our friends Rob and Elisa who were visiting from the USA and thoroughly enjoyed her playdate with their daughter Tori.  She attended a dedication service for our friends Phil and Tany’s daughter Amy and enjoyed having various family members coming to stay towards the end of May including Auntie Maxine, Auntie Twinny and cousins Ebony and Erin.  Jessica seems to be in her element when she is being sociable and has been thoroughly enjoying herself.  She is a very affectionate little girl and so everyone has been getting lots of cuddles and kisses from her (as have all her favourite toys which is quite delightful!) 

 
Whilst she did take her first unsupported steps early on in May, she is still not quite confident enough yet to do so on a regular basis although we have seen her take a couple of steps here and there.  She is chatting and signing much more though – her signing vocabulary is much more advanced than her speech but her favourite word with both seems to be “duck”.  She was quite delighted this morning when we had a photoshoot at the Heath in Petersfield and got to see all the ducks by the pond!  The photoshoot was for the ‘Book of Love’ which is a project organised by the Charlie Jones Foundation to help raise money for Little Hearts Matter.  We are looking forward to seeing the results of this morning’s photoshoot.  The book is due to be printed towards the end of the year and we will let you know when it is available!

 
The nice weather has also seen a restart of our ‘GoldPostbox Challenge’ – trying to visit all the golden postboxes painted for Team GB gold medallists.  We have now visited 41 out of the 59 postboxes.


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