A brave little girl's charity walk is gaining lots of support from the local community in her Powys border village.
Ella Davies, from Llanymynech, will be doing a special charity walk with her family to raise money for her local pre-school, which has supported her amid a series of health difficulties.
The three-year-old has been a regular visitor to hospital in her life so far because of an issue with her lungs.
“Ella has been in and out of hospital since the age of 18 months, we were told it was an immature immune system and she would grow out of it,” said Ella’s mum Sarah Turley.
“But after pushing the doctors for more testing she had a bronchoscopy which revealed she has a blind ending in her right lung.”
This blind ending fistula acts as a small flap in Ella’s lung which gathers infection – meaning something as simple as a cold can turn into pneumonia because the bacteria collects in the small pocket of her lung.
“Up until March this year she was in hospital pretty much every two weeks,” said Sarah.
“She's had cannulas in her hands and feet so that she can receive intravenous antibiotics and has required a lot of oxygen.
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“It affects her day to day. We never know if her catching a cold will turn into pneumonia therefore she now takes prophylactic antibiotics three times a week to try and prevent any infections.
“Winter is the hardest time for us as there's lots of bugs going around and she is susceptible to catching anything.
“I can't stress enough how proud I am of her, she is the bravest soul with the most infectious smile.”
The charity walk will be to raise money for the Border Preschool, run by Sandra Hayward, which have given lots of support for the family whilst Ella has been going through her health issues.
“Preschool have been more than incredible – I cannot sing Sandra’s praises enough,” said Sarah.”
“My eldest, Ava attended preschool before she started primary school. I missed her first sports day because I was in hospital with Ella, I also missed her first nativity because I was in hospital with Ella.
“Sandra ensured someone recorded Ava in her sports day so that I could watch. She also set up a dress rehearsal of the Nativity solely for me so I could see Ava play Mary in the Nativity. These were huge milestones for my daughter, Ava, and also for me – but Sandra made sure I didn't miss out because of being in hospital with Ella.
“The pre-school as a whole supported Ava through the really difficult times of Ella being in hospital and always made sure she was well cared for and looked after emotionally. Sandra would regularly check in with me during our hospital stays to see if there was anything any of them could do to support us a family.”
The family have been advised that the best way for Ella to fight infection in the future is lots of exercise to make her lungs strong. Sarah and Ella’s dad Jon decided to do the charity walk which will see them climb Llanymynech Rocks to help say thank you to the Preschool.
This has gained a lot of support locally, with donation points all over Llanymynech
“We really didn't expect it to take off like it has done to be honest,” added Sarah. “We have donation points at the preschool, the village shop, the village pantry and the cross keys pub in Llanymynech.”
Fro anyone who would like to donate online, a link to Ella's gofundme can be found here
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