As many of you maybe aware we lost our mum, Joanne Howard, December 2017. 

Everyone who knew mum would know how much she loved her four girls, she had such a huge funny personality, she is missed everyday by her daughters, Mum & Dad, brother, sister and Grandson (s). 

We want to take the opportunity to share mums story. 

Moms health took a dramatic turn for the worst in 2012 after a severe hospital admission nesscary tests were finally taken and revealed that mom had several lung diseases. These included Alpha 1 (which is extremly rare), COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and asthma. This meant mom was also more susceptible to problems such as severe chest infections, bronchitis, emphysema and pneumonia, all ended up occurring regularly. 

This meant that major lifestyle changes happened for mom and us as a family, simple daily tasks became more difficult until unfortunately things she loved like socialising, working and travelling become impossible.

Many treatments was attempted including physiotherapy, nebulizers and inhalers. These didn't help and this is when we resorted to 24/7 oxygen and care from her daughters. This was until mom was referred to the transplant team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. 

After many tests and talks with doctors and family it was decided this was the only option left to improve moms quaility of life and stop the lung disease from being fatal. 

After a very long and hard 9 months of many more hospital admissions and appointments and care at home we finally had the call we had been waiting for, there was a double lung match for mom. The 10 hour operation was extremely successful and moms intinal recovery was nothing but remarkable (which was mom all over.) This was when moms hopes and dreams of just the simple things in life was in such short grasp and she felt she could share them with us - it was beautiful to see. 

Unfortunately, 13 days later mum went for a routine biopsy to check the new lungs. During the procedure a major blood vessel was hit and caused a hemorrhage in her airways resulting into cardiac arrest. Mums brain starved of oxygen for 19 minutes. For 2 weeks there was continuous attempts to wake mom up but she was still unresponsive. Brain scans later detected wide spread brain injury. 

From that day mom was in what is called a vegetative state, this means she couldnt walk, talk, eat or communicate. She suffered seizures and respiratory failures daily. Mum and us suffered this until her last day 7th December 2017, Nearly 4 months after the biopsy. 

We had lots of support from the lovely British lung foundation nurses and physiotherapists whilst mom was at home. They advised us, came into the home to demonstrate how best to care for mom and of course emotional support. 

We've had time now to grieve and reflect on what happened to mum and really feel its time to get stuck into some fundraising! So trust us pair to pick something that isn't so easy, its an intense 16 week training programme, which were looking forward to keeping you updated on. An overnight climb over the UKs biggest mountain between 8-12 hours long! 

We can only imagine what momma Jo would say to us doing this! 

So please it doesn't matter how big or how small we appreicate every single penny, we hope sharing our training journey will inspire you to give. And don't forget everyone SHARE SHARE SHARE!!

Thank you for reading mums story.

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Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.