In lieu of wedding presents we ask that you kindly consider donating towards Matt's little cousin, Charlie, who is suffering from Leukaemia and learning to live with Paraplegia. His story is below.

Charlie is a 4 year old little boy who has had a difficult start to his life. He is an active, vibrant and happy little chap and is always full of smiles, affection and determination.

Charlie, along with his twin sister, Poppy, were born prematurely at 30 weeks: he spent much of the first year of his life in and out of hospital with various health issues. Finally, by 18 months old he appeared to be on the up, spending less time in hospital and was on the verge walking. This was all to soon change.

On 17 October 2016, Charlie woke up in considerable distress, reluctant to crawl or put any weight on his legs. He was taken to hospital where an MRI confirmed the worst: Charlie had a swelling on his spine caused by a rare Arteriovenus Malformation (AVM) which had led to his spinal cord becoming damaged resulting in paralysis from the waist down. The news changed the course of Charlie's life, as well as the lives of his parents, Jamie and Becky. Charlie was immediately transferred to Great Ormond Street given the rarity of his condition and he remained there for 4 weeks.

Charlie has been in and out of hospital ever since. Following the diagnosis, Charlie has required a lot of specialist equipment and home modifications as well as ground breaking physiotherapy, not currently funded or provided to him through the NHS or other support services. For example, he attends Stoke Mandaville Hospital twice per year for specialist, intensive, physiotherapy.

In March 2019, Charlie's life would change once again forever. After repeated hospital admissions throughout the beginning of 2019, Charlie was diagnosed with having Leukaemia. Charlie has undergone intensive chemotherapy and, the initial indications are positive. However, Charlie is now going to be undertaking a further 3 years of chemotherapy in an attempt to ensure that it stays in remission.

Charlie has been through such a lot for such a short life: but he is a truly selfless and determined young boy.

We would like our friends and family to support Charlie and his parents, Jamie and Becky as well as his twin sister Poppy and older sister Lola come to terms with these life changing events and help give them the best chance of maintaining a normal life over the next few years. The donations that we raise will be utilised for various improvements towards Charlie's quality of life; these include:

- further specialist physiotherapy

- new equipment such as a hand powered bike, off-road wheelchair and specialist exercise bike

- carer costs

- a respite fund

For more background on Charlie and how previous donations are helping him, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/Charliedavidfielding/

All our love,

Emily and Matthew x