C/O 2 Durham Avenue
Thornton-Cleveleys
Lancashire
FY5 2DP
United Kingdom

NB: this is a forwarding address for the Pal, we do NOT disclose home addresses

Email Pal

Poppy H's Parents/Guardians

Kimberley

Poppy H's Siblings

Coral 15/01/2008 likes Bob the Builder, Barney, Peppa Pig, Fifi, dolls, babies, Disney Princess, making things, crafting, puzzles, games, all things pink and animals! Oliver who passed away just before he was 5.

Poppy H's Interests

Postman Pat (huge fan), Fireman Sam, Peppa Pig, Balamory, Handy Manny, Fifi, Dora the Explorer, Disney Princess and anything Disney, Minnie Mouse (her favourite!), music, crafting, games, puzzles (does 30-40 pieces!), all things pink, loves handbags and hats, collects nail varnishes.

Poppy H's Favourite Colour

Pink

Is Poppy H able to read?

No

Is Poppy H able to use hands?

Yes

Is Poppy H visually/hearing impaired?

No

Does Poppy H suffer from any developmental delay?

No

Story written 2010

Poppy is a loving, smiling, happy little girl. She was born at 28 weeks and from birth she had inflammation of her bowel and started treatment for it at 3months old. She was initially ng tube fed, then nj tube fed by 6 months, and her first operation was at 9 months old when she weighed just 8lb.

Over time, more and more things became apparent with Poppy. She had pseudo obstruction from 7months old, hypoglycemia caused by a rare condition called growth hormone resistance, and poppy has delayed gross motor skills and couldn’t sit until 18 months and didn’t walk until 2 and half years old. She used a walking frame and has special boots and orthotics. She also has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome too.

Poppy has been tpn dependant since January 2010 and has suffered many line sepsis since November 2009, with 4 bouts of pneumonia, cellulitis, and with multiple bugs in her blood stream at one time. Her inflammation has got much worse along with the pseudo, and on many occasions we have nearly lost Poppy as she has been so ill. Somehow her little body fought hard and she is still battling on and always with a smile!

Poppy’s intestines are really struggling this past year and even though she's on TPN she’s still not gaining weight or growing. She has a MRI booked for the 26th July 2010 of her bowel. In May she was put forward for small bowel transplant, but she is not a candidate as yet… so her battle continues and we can carry on giving her the best life we can when we're not in hospital.

Update 8th June 2011

Poppy’s doing ok on this new Ivig treatment, she seems to have a little more energy, and has been off iv antibiotics now since the end of March when she had aseptic meningitis and pseudomonas line sepsis. 

She's been having lots of problems with her left ankle, it's very stiff and painful, especially in the mornings, so she's just got to exercise through it while we wait for X-ray and scan results, and wait for a podiatry/orthotic appointment as the left leg isn't growing and is much shorter than the right.

Poppy starts big school in September and she got the school we wanted for her and they have been fab.

Thank you to everyone who sent Poppy and Coral Easter craft sets, they had great fun making things. They loved the tiny little pram and dolly that Libby sent coral too, she plays with it every day.

Post Pals is just fab, the girls love the postman now.

Update 15th April 2011

Poppy is in hospital as she turned blue/grey tonight.

Update 28th March 2011

February was not a bad month in all. Poppy had two chest infections needing iv antibiotics, but luckily we can do them at home. She was having masses of pain from her bowel so is now on new meds and they seem to be doing something but not fully working yet. Poppy had her educational psychologist assessment ready for school to see what help she'll need for school in September.

We had a lovely weekend away just local to us in our caravan, but the weather was terrible and Coral fell face first in the mud. Poppy found this very amusing, bless her!

The great news is that Poppy has finally got funding for her IVIG treatment. GOSH are paying on a trial basis. We are very hopeful that this will help her immensely in the long run, and even a possibility it may help enough to get back onto tube feeds. Keep everything crossed please!

Thank you for Poppy’s letters from Rachel and Adam, Mandie and Rosie, Emma, Sarah G, and lots more. Poppy loved her build a bear outfit too, very cute! Thank you.

As usual, you guys do a fab job and always manage to bring a smile on the most hardest of days. It means the earth, thank you.

Update 18th March 2011

Poppy was in GOSH for an overnight TPN MOT on Monday and started her new treatment. Unfortunately she reacted to it and had aseptic meningitis and a bacterial sepsis. She's on IV antibiotics and hopefully going home later this evening - as we do all her care we can manage her at home. Fingers crossed this treatment helps things but we are a bit worried about the next dose, although she will be pre-medicated this time.

Update 18th February 2011

Well it's been an up and down winter for Poppy this year. She has pretty much been on IV antibiotics the whole winter. In December she was very unwell and they were talking about PICU, but miraculously, with a lot of iv's and blood transfusion she picked up. She was in a lot of pain and needed morphine, her mouth was full of ulcers and very sore, and it was so upsetting. New Year she had flu, so it was more ivs, oxygen etc, and home on ivs. Her gut in that time was terrible causing proctitus flares. The winter has been bad due to her bloods not being good, her bone marrow very suppressed and neutropenia, meaning for 8 weeks we were housebound, even over Christmas.

Back in October, her immunologist at Great Ormond Street told us of a treatment that really could improve her life - intravenous immunoglobulin therapy - and she was applying for funding from the local PCT. We were excited at the prospect that within 6 months of being on it Poppy could come off tpn and back to jejunal tube feeds!! Amazing! However, the local PCT turned her funding down, unfairly. To cut a long story short, appeal process started, emails to MP's flew back and forth etc and by now GOSH were realising we were not going to give up. On Valentines Day we got the call to say that GOSH were going to fund it. Yipppeee!! We're very happy and hopeful that this will make a difference to her so keep your fingers crossed! :)

At the moment Pops is ok, no infections and no ivs. Her gut is up and down and we're trying to combat dehydration at the moment but she's not happy about being connected to either or another machine all day.

Sorry for the slow update but we've moved house and had no Internet!

Thank you to Sarah Marshall for the lovely elf box for Coral - she loved all the princess things, especially the dolly and she shared her box with Poppy too. Thank you Post Pals for the girls’ balloons! Poppy’s going to have her deflated Minnie mounted on her wall. Thank you Jenny for the stickers. The smile box from Germany was fab and they shared it all! Viks and Kate, thank you for the tea set as the girls love crafting and they play with the tea set all the time! I’m hoping I’ve not missed anyone but the internet has been off and I'm trying to catch up!

Post Pals is amazing and a whole new world for Poppy. Life for her can be strange living in Coral’s shoes, as in it is Coral’s nursery and Coral’s friends, Coral can eat and drink etc, but when she gets post sent to her from what she says are her friends, it really does light up her face with a smile. Thank you!

Update 16th November 2010

Poppy’s blood works are not good at the moment, her bone marrow is very suppressed, her liver is struggling at the moment, and she’s anaemic so it is making her feel up and down and very tired. They've stopped her immunosupression for a week and then they’ll reduce the dose to see if this helps, but it will possibly have an adverse effect on her gut. She’s not allowed out at the moment or to nursery etc, as infection risk is very high. We're going to Disneyland Paris on the 23rd of this month, but we need Poppy well to be able to go. Her bloods need to be better or we won’t be going, but she’s still smiling, bless her.

Thank you Alison for the Halloween gifts and they also loved the flannels! Thanks to Post Pals for the Halloween bag too.

Update 27th October 2010

Poppy has been up and down recently. She's home which is fab and with home TPN we are having much more time at home now. We’re still having lots of problems with bacterial overgrowth and diarrhoea and pain – she’s just finished yet another course of antibiotics. She has seen her immunologist at GOSH and they want her to try immunoglobulin therapy IV (IVIG). They’re hoping this will help her immune system and her inflammatory problem. It’s a 5 hour infusion every 3 weeks at GOSH and after 3 tries we can do this at home as we’re IV trained. So fingers crossed!!

We’ve had a lot of change of medication lately to try and help her gut, but not much change yet. Poppy is happy though and is now in nursery and enjoying it a lot! She’s also doing gymnastics too as it all helps with her physio programme; she finds it very tough and is exhausted after but is enjoying it.

We are going on holiday to Disneyland Paris in just 4 weeks time. As you know, Poppy is a massive Minnie Mouse fan, so she is extremely excited!

Thank you so much to Viks and Kate and all the Post Pals gang for running Post Pals. Poppy loves it! Thank you for Rosie and Mandy for Poppy’s gifts; I’m subjected to Mickey Mouse DVD all day now! Thank you to everyone who sends Pops cards and pictures and thanks Emma Stone for the pictures of badger. Thanks also to Dottie the Dalmatian - Poppy loves your adventure post! Thank you so much for Poppy’s DVD player as well, it is literally a life saver. She is in bed by 5pm most days exhausted and loves to watch her DVDs.

Update 13th August 2010

Poppy is currently in our local hospital in Blackpool with a line sepsis. Consultants are all very worried as her immune system is very poor at the moment and she's not responding as she should. Her body’s not responding outwardly with the infection which is worse, so we’re hoping these new antibiotics kick in and that she improves.

Thank you all so much for your post as it really does cheer her up!

Update 29th June 2010

Poppy is home at last after 7 months in GOSH on TPN. She's doing ok at home, but still having a lot of pain, her bowels are not good, and she is still losing weight despite being on TPN. She is pretty worn out, bless her, but very happy to be home. The bowel MRI is on 26th July at GOSH.

Thank you for Poppy’s cards this month. Viks sent a lovely hand made one, Emma Stone, lovely cards from the USA too. Poppy and Coral are very lucky girls! Also, thank you so much Post Pals as the girls had a huge parcel and loved their chair! They coloured the bean bag dogs in straight away too. Granny Ruth sent Poppy a Charlie and Lola magazine which she loves, she’s really into her magazines and books! Thank you to Louise for the Peppa Pig bags, Poppy now carries her feed pump in her one! Thank you to Alison L… she's great! Thanks to Steph, Poppy loves her pink poodle. To everyone else who has sent post… thank you!

Post Pals is brill and has brought a new life to Poppy! She’s not really got any friends because she’s too poorly for nursery and is always in hospital, but now she has lots of friends who send her post and it has really brought a huge smile to her face when the postman knocks! So thank you!

Update 15th June 2010

The girls got their Post Pals parcel today and it was very unexpected! Thank you! They were so excited… giggling like mad! Apparently it’s a magic chair… it walks! The wind blew it along in the garden and they were wetting themselves with laughter! Brill! Definitely a much needed smile as Pops has been in a lot of pain again today. Thank you!

Update 7th June 2010

Hey all! We are home! Poppy is all connected to the TPN too.

Thank you all so much for the post you've sent Poppy and Coral! They just love receiving it. We had just arrived home tonight after a long journey (screaming, tired, bored, sore etc) and Poppy was grumpy and in pain… but it soon livened her up to come home to post!! We've decided to keep a notebook of addresses starting from now on so Poppy can write back, as she's in bed early now at home because of the TPN and it'll give her something to do. She's had so much post it is hard to keep up!! Loads of love and thanks! You’re amazing people!

Update 21st May 2010

Well Pops is definitely on the mend; our doctor just said she's a very lucky little girl to pull through. She was very very sick - 10 days she was fighting it and she's very worn out. I feel so relived an grateful she's still here! Nothing will stop me smiling! Now it’s just a long recovery.

Update 20th May 2010

Yet another bad night. PICU doctors wanted to do a CT scan over night as her head is swollen and morphine’s not touching the pain in her head and she can't move. They reduced all her fluids because she's so swollen, bless her. Just waiting for doctors now to see what's next. MRI and echo and possibly CT scan needs doing. Poor little thing. We're waiting on big news today for her. I will update when I know anything. I'm so tired it’s unbelievable! Little improvement today, but don't want to count my chickens as when ever we have a sigh of relief that maybe she's turning a corner, it goes wrong again.