Simon Jones is fundraising for Birmingham Children's Hospital Charities

Simon Jones is fundraising for Birmingham Children's Hospital Charities

Kaitlyn's name written in the sand on a beach in Western Australia by a lovely lady for us. In memory of our precious daughter. http://namesinthesand.blogspot.com/2008/11/kaitlyn-annie-jones.html

Our beautiful brave daughter has gone, she died at 1.45am on 2nd August 2008. We had gone into hospital on Thursday night at very short notice for her operation the next day. The repair to her valve was successful but her heart function was poor afterwards and although she fought hard to stay with us her heart was just not strong enough. They did everything possible to save her. Simon and I were both with her when she passed away and she was very peaceful. The morning of her operation she was all smiles and laughter and that is how we will remember her. She was the perfect daughter and brought us unimagined happiness. The above photo is our favourite and taken on her birthday it captures her sense of fun and joy perfectly. We can't quite believe we will never see her again and we want her back more that anything. I will end this blog with Joshua's words " She was so special to me , I loved her so much"

At Kaitlyn's last check up it was noted that her leaky valve had got worse. After the surgeons had a meeting about it, it was decided that it would be in Kaitlyn's best interests to operate to try and repair the valve. It is important this is done otherwise it would affect Kaitlyn's lung pressures and the overall functioning of her heart. Unfortunately it means another open heart surgery but the surgeon has given us a 95-97% chance of success which we are focusing on. It will not be pleasant for any of us not least of all Kaitlyn ,but we know she is "tough as old boots" - to quote a nurse , and is so much better now than she was when she had her last operation.
We are waiting for a date which could be any day soon as she is top of the urgent list. At the moment Kaitlyn is running around without a care in the world! Here are a few pics that were taken in Grandad's cart yesterday.

Kaitlyn was 2 years old on the 5th June. Can't quite believe that 2 years have passed already but then on the other hand we feel as though Katilyn has been around forever! We had a lovely family tea on the Saturday before at my parents house, where we enjoyed cake and had balloons. We all had a lovely time and the weather was warm enough to sit out. On Kaitlyn's birthday we had planned a day out but Joshua came down with a tummy bug shortly after Kaitlyn had opened her presents so we spent the day at home instead and then went out the following week to a local farm where Kaitlyn got to feed the animals. We also had a lunch for some of Kaitlyn's little "heart" friends, so she has had a busy few days! She is saying more words now and has totally mastered the art of walking. Here are some pics . Another slide show , the first two are ones my brother took at her birthday tea- he takes some amazing photos

Kaitlyn's 2nd Birthday

We spent a wonderful week in Spain. Kaitlyn coped well with the flight and the heat and enjoyed every minute! She especially liked going in the pool and dancing to the live entertainment in the evenings. She wasn't so keen on the local food though and survived the week on fish fingers, pizza and chocolate ice cream:-) Our hotel was very much child-orientated and we spent most of our time there, at the main pool and excellent beach club. Below is a selection of holiday photos.

Slideshow