Our beautiful daughter was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital soon after she was born in heart failure. She spent 4 weeks on Cardiac Critical Care.

We needed to be close by day and night as we never knew when she would deteriorate. We had nowhere to stay.

We were offered a room in a Sick Children's Trust house minutes from Emma's bedside. This meant that we could stay together and keep our 16 month old son, Oliver, with us.

This was a lifeline at a time when we were desperate. The Sick Children's Trust gave us a home. We were able to talk to other parents in our position and we were able to stay together as a family.

The Sick Children's Trust believe that poorly children do better if their whole family is close. They provide "homes away from home", at no cost to the family, for as long as they need it.

I don't know how we would have coped without this wonderful help and, despite losing our daughter, we are so grateful for the support we were given while she was ill.