Help Us Please?

How would you feel if you had to leave your child to travel alone in ambulance?
How would you feel if there was a possibility that you child may die in an ambulance without you there?
How would you feel if your child died in an ambulance and you weren’t there as they took their last breath?

As you can see in the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADZvfjBY2dI I will never forget being told that neither I or Jacks dad could travel with Jack in the ambulance.

I will never forget the feeling I had watching them place Jack in an ambulance and close the door as I stood outside, asking the paramedic “please look after my son like he is your own”

I will never forget the guilt that I had and still have from leaving Jack, unconscious and critically ill, to travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh without me or his dad to hold his hand.

I will never forget thinking “what if he dies in that ambulance without us” “what if he wakes up and wants his mummy”.

And I will never forget that I lost two hours of my son’s life with him before he died. Nothing can ever replace those 2 hours.

I totally understand all the health and safety arguments, I totally understand that the patient must come 1st and I understand that some parents may be in no fit to travel with the child but I also firmly believe that NO child should ever die in an ambulance without a parent at their side.

One of Brightest Stars 1st aims was to provide a family ambulance and finally 3 years on…. this aim is well underway. We are currently discussing the ambulance design and specifications but it is our intention that this ambulance with be fitted with extra seats to accommodate one if not two parents. Furthermore, this ambulance will be designed so that it can be used for babies, children and adults. More precise details will be released at a later date but we hope to have the ambulance on the road early next year.
If Jack had not got access to the last bed in Edinburgh Intensive care that day, he would have been transferred to Newcastle. Even today, I can’t bear the thought of that as the chances are, Jack would have died in that ambulance and I would not have been by his side. When our children are sick, our immediate reaction is to take them to our nearest hospital, most times those hospitals do not specialise in children and the child has to be moved to another hospital. From 2015-2016, 1371 babies and children to age 16, in Scotland alone needed to be transferred. That’s 1371 sets of parents that may have been unable to be at their child’s side in their hour of need. We are looking at any estimated cost of £160,000 for our family ambulance but if that stops one child or the possibility of 1371 babies or children from dying without their parent present then it is worth every penny.

Tonight I am asking for your help with this campaign as we need your support more than ever. If you could spare £1, £5 or £10 then it will get us one step closer to achieving our aim. You can donate by texting Jack 06 £5 (or the amount) to 70070.

We have two organised events left this year, all fundraising from these will go solely to funding the ambulance and I would love as many of you as possible to take part.
The Family Great Scottish Run which is a Toddler Dash for under 5s, the Junior Great Scottish Run for 9-15 Family Mile 3-8 accompanied by an adult on Sat 1st Oct 2016 and the Great Scottish Run 10k or half marathon on Sunday 2nd Oct 2016. You don’t have to run, you can jog or walk with the rest of us.
Why not get your family, friends or workplace to do this together and when you see our ambulance on the road, you can feel pride in knowing you helped towards that!!

Until the day that I die, there are two things that I will never stop campaigning for..

1. That parents are allowed to be with their child in an ambulance, especially if there is a possibility that the child may die

2. That bereavement care families that lose a child is vastly improved across the uk

Please join me in this campaign by inviting your friends to like Brightest Star, tag them in this post and share this story on your own personal page.

Together we can make a change,

Arlene, Jack’s Mummy xx