Without The Sick Children's Trust we honestly don't think we’d have had the energy to nurse Eliza back to full health

Our daughter Eliza was born at home on the 22 March 2015. She was a perfectly healthy little girl weighing 8lb 3oz. There were no complications throughout the pregnancy or birth and we were overjoyed with our little bundle. But 15 weeks later our whole world turned upside down.

Eliza was rushed to our local A&E in Southend after we found her semi-conscious and bleeding in her crib. Things deteriorated very quickly and the hospital staff worked hard to figure out why Eliza had become so poorly.

Eliza continued to lose a lot of blood, her abdomen started to extend and she went into hypovolemic shock – a life-threatening condition where a severe loss of blood and fluid prevents the heart from pumping enough blood around the body. It took several hours to stabilise her and we were told we would be heading straight to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) by ambulance.

The team explained that she would need an emergency operation as soon as she got to GOSH as doctors needed to operate before they could give a full diagnosis.

We arrived at GOSH and within minutes Eliza was taken into paediatric intensive care (PICU). There, her consultant told us that Eliza was very sick and there was a strong possibility that the surgery wouldn't be successful.

She underwent a laparotomy, where a large incision was made through her abdominal wall to gain access into the abdominal cavity. This showed her intestine had twisted over 720 degrees, cutting the blood supply to the bowel.

Neither my partner nor I had ever heard of volvulus (when the intestine twists causing an obstruction) or intussusception (when part of the intestine folds into another section). Having had no signs that Eliza was becoming ill, it was a very scary time for us all.

Thankfully, the initial surgery went well, but they kept Eliza paralysed and gave her a drug called TPA in a desperate attempt to save her bowel, before her next operation in less than 24 hours.

We live several hours away from GOSH and didn’t want to leave her side, so returning home wasn't an option. We had no idea of how long we would be at the hospital or whether Eliza would need ongoing treatment after she had recovered. Whilst she remained in intensive care, we were unable to sleep on the ward and were faced with another stressful obstacle of finding an affordable place to rest in central London.

Fortunately, GOSH put us in touch with The Sick Children's Trust who gave us a free room at Rainbow House, just a few minutes’ walk from Eliza’s ward. It meant we could get some sleep during this terrifying time and wake feeling refreshed and able to face another difficult day.

House manager Sandra, reassured us that we could stay at the house for as long as we needed which gave us peace of mind. The house staff made us feel welcome and did everything they could to make our stay easy as possible.

We were also surrounded by other families going through similar situations. It was comforting to be able to share our experiences with others who were also having a challenging time, and it made us feel like we weren’t alone.

We stayed at Rainbow House for over six weeks. As you can imagine, finding our own accommodation in central London for this long period of time would have been financially and emotionally crippling. Towards the end of our stay we were able to bring Eliza to the house and it was so nice to be able to stay in the room as a family for the first time in weeks! One night we even sat in the kitchen and had dinner together – it was such a simple thing, but it was one of the best feelings to be able to eat together as a family.

We don't know what we would have done without the help and support of this amazing charity. Before Eliza had become unwell we didn’t even know The Sick Children’s Trust and its ‘Homes from Home’ existed and then all of a sudden we were reliant on it. We can’t thank The Sick Children’s Trust enough for their help and support during such a difficult time in our lives.

Eliza underwent one more major operation and several small procedures before she was discharged. Thankfully, she is now recovering well at home. Without The Sick Children's Trust we honestly don't think we would have had the energy to nurse Eliza back to full health. We would like to thank staff at The Sick Children’s Trust and everyone who donates to this amazing charity. We are eternally grateful and will continue to share our story in order to raise awareness and money for future families in need. We have already managed to collect over 200 mobile phones as part of the Recycle4Charity scheme and hope that the funds raised from this will go towards helping many more families in need.

Carmel Abi-Aad (Eliza’s Mum)