THE
CHARLOTTE SPEDDY
TEXAS APPEAL

Charlotte was born on the 28th October 1997 and is an intelligent, bright and chatty individual, who is a key member of our local play school group where she has many friends.� Her best friend though, is her twin brother Thomas.

Charlotte was born with multiple birth defects, which include a severe curve in her spine caused by two missing ribs, two half ribs and three fused ribs, all on the left side.� This causes Charlotte to bend quite a lot to the side and as a result, her left lung did not develop properly, leaving her with function only in her right lung, which is also reduced in size, due to the curve.� As you can imagine, this restricts her breathing and she was oxygen dependant until she was eighteen months old and she still requires oxygen when she has coughs and colds.� All of these problems have also had an affect on her heart, which has been pushed over to the right, although at present, this is not a problem.�

Charlotte was diagnosed with these problems before she was born and a specialist Neo-natal consultant explained that if the baby lived to birth, she would only survive for half an hour, as she would not be able to breathe unaided.� This news was devastating for us, after seven years of waiting and our first attempt of IVF to conceive, we had originally conceived triplets but lost one at fourteen weeks.

The day the children were born was filled with mixed emotions of sheer delight, at having the child we thought we would never have, to complete heartbreak for a child we had to say goodbye to.� Thomas was delivered first, less than one minute later Charlotte arrived, screaming announcing her arrival.� When she did not need any intervention to help her breathe, a pediatrician at Bangor Hospital took her to Special Care Baby Unit, where she amazed everyone with her tenacity and will to survive.� We lived from hour to hour and saw her progress, as the hours turned to days and the days into weeks, until we brought her home aged thirteen weeks.

Charlotte has been a very ill child requiring emergency admissions to intensive care in Manchester and Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool. Each time we were given no hope, each time she beat the odds and we are able to bring her back home to her family. She is one of life's true hero's, a brave and strong little girl, loved by everyone. Each time we have taken our lead from her and she has proved each and every doctor wrong.
For the first time we have some positive news for Charlotte. A Dr Campbell, at the Santa Rosa Children's Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, USA has developed a surgical procedure called the 'Titanium Rib' especially for children like Charlotte. From what we understand, this gives more room for her to breathe and therefore encourages growth of the redundant lungs. This would make her less susceptible to chest infections and pneumonia, which have in the past been potentially fatal for her.

Her Orthopedic surgeon at Alder Hey, believes that Charlotte would be a good candidate for this treatment, as does Dr Campbell in Texas.

I would like to ask you, if you would consider helping Charlotte in any way, either by contributing towards the cost of her treatment, or making a donation towards our traveling expenses, we have to make three separate journeys.

If your are unable to help yourself, possibly you might know someone or even an organization that helps in such cases. Charlotte's family and friends are doing everything they can to help raise money but the amount needed of over �100,000 seems a colossal mountain to climb, but in North Wales we are used to such obstacles and are determined not to give up but to fight just as strongly as Charlotte does every single day.
We would be truly grateful for any assistance that you are able to give - thank you for taking the time to read about Charlotte.

ANYONE WISHING TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE CHARLOTTE SPEDDY TEXAS APPEAL CAN DO SO AT ANY BRANCH OF LLOYDS TSB USING THE FOLLOWING DETAILS :-

Account Number : 0835324������������������� Sort Code : 30-90-43

All cheques to be made payable to : Charlotte Speddy Texas Appeal

Any comments or suggestions on how to raise money can be made by e-mailing us or leave your comments in the signing in book.

Stephen & Angela Speddy (Parents of Thomas and Charlotte).