I don't know what I would do if I didn't have CHAS, I feel much less alone

Mum opens up on support for little Chloe

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A mum has told how a children’s hospice has been an “absolute lifeline” to her as the charity launched an urgent fundraising campaign in respond to a doubling in demand.

Mechelle O'Hara spoke out as Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) kickstarted an appeal in response to a massive surge in demand from families seeking respite care.

She says being able to access both the charity's hospice and at-home care has been invaluable and says she couldn’t imagine life without it.

Her daughter Chloe Thomson was born with many complex conditions and has been supported by CHAS for the last five years.

When she was born three months early in September 2019, Chloe was unable to breathe properly and was immediately whisked away by medics.

All Mechelle wanted to do was to hold her baby girl in her arms but instead could only watch in horror as she was placed in an incubator, wired up to various tubes and put on a ventilator.

Tests revealed that Chloe had contracted sepsis and meningitis in utero and that she had one lung bigger than the other. Doctors went on to also discover a deadly fluid-filled cyst blocking Chloe’s airway which required immediate surgery.

Mechelle, who is also mum to Robbie, 13, and Aimee, 14, said: "They told me there was good chance I would never take her home and if I did, she would be severely disabled.

I was devastated and didn’t stop crying for days.

Chloe required an urgent heart and lung bypass but, at three pounds, she was too small for surgery. It finally went ahead when Chloe was seven weeks.

Weighing just five pounds, she was one of the smallest babies ever to undergo the high-risk eight-hour procedure.

Unfortunately, surgeons could only partially remove the cyst as it was attached to her airway and fully removing it would have ended Chloe's life.