Apr 08, 2025

Ryan's Walk - Leicester - Bexhill

In celebration for what would have been Hattie’s 6th birthday, I (Ryan Bradshaw) will be walking 160 miles from Leicester to Bexhill, office to office. Hattie’s Story: Hattie was simply everything that I could ever have wanted in a daughter, she was kind, caring, beyond her years and the funniest 5yr old that you could ever wish to meet – friends, family and even strangers would always joke that even if you met her for just 5 minutes you certainly would never forget her. I think simply she was the best of all of us, bundled up in a small package with a beaming smile and beautiful big blue eyes. Hattie passed away 11 days after her 5th birthday to a meningitis infection that she was unable to recover from. She was rushed into hospital in the early hours of the morning and passed away 2 days later. As Hattie was such and loving and caring little girl we thought that letting her become an organ doner would have been something that she would of been really proud to do. Because of this gift of helping other little Boys & Girls we were offered the chance for her to stay at Rainbows hospice in her own room for a week where she was made to feel like the princess that she was. It’s because of how loving she was –“Sharing is caring” as she would always say – that I feel that there is no better way to mark her birthday than raising money for Rainbows hospice who supported us as a family since our loss and also gave us more time with Hattie after she passed which honestly meant so much to us. The work they do is amazing and if I can help them to offer the same support to other families in their hardest of times I know Hattie would be really proud. Rainbows provide a lot of services for children in and around the Midlands who require palliative & end of life care. Their site in Loughborough allows these children to have as much fun as they can in the short time they have left such as music, arts, swimming, days out and also medical care. They have rooms where parents can stay and for as long as they need and also a café where all food is provided free of charge. They also provide counselling for families and other services such as walking you through the steps after your child has passed away and support you through all the up’s and downs that you go through in the 18months after your child has passed away.  The service that our family really benefited from as well being able to stay at Rainbows for a week after Hattie had passed away was their “Ambient room”. These are bedrooms, all decorated just as a little boy/girl would like. In these cold rooms parents can visit and spend as much time as they like with their child at anytime of the day so that they can talk to them and say everything they want to which wouldn’t be the case had Rainbows not been available. There are no words for the shock and devastation we felt and still feel when Hattie passed away. One minute she was falling asleep next to me and the next she was being rushed to hospital unresponsive. As parents you can never imagine the pain of your child being there one minute and not the next and to be told that all we would have would be 30 minutes with her after they turned her life support off only made the worst time of our lives even more unbearable. With Rainbows help however we had that extra week to come to terms with our loss and properly say our goodbyes.  It's frustrating that Rainbows only receive government funding for around 2 months of the year for this amazing service and for the remainder they fundraise and seek donations. I’m hoping with the support of you and Hastings Direct, we can raise some funds to help other families in need.

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