The talk this month was from Milli Lindfield about the short but remarkable life of her daughter.

Our daughter Hannah-Kate was born in 1991 with a rare syndrome called Pfeiffer Syndrome with Cloverleaf. This meant that Hannah was born with a cloverleaf shaped skull which affected her breathing, sight, hearing and pressure on the brain.

At five days old my husband and I took Hannah to Great Ormond St Hospital totally unaware that this was to become our second home for the next 19 years! At 6 weeks Hannah underwent the first of many, many major surgeries to help her live life to the full.

Hannah from day one proved she was not going to be beaten and amongst all the surgeries, having a tracheotomy (four times) being registered deaf and blind ,she attended main stream primary school and then the West of England School in Exeter.

Here she gained her love for swimming and art, and was introduced to her ever faithful Guide Dog Bella. Art became her life, it gave her an avenue to express her many emotions and to cope with the acute pain that she dealt with on a daily basis. She took her A level Art exam in Gt Ormond St Hospital on huge amounts of pain relief and blind folded as day light affected her eye pain.

Hannah began a degree in Fine Art but her health began to deteriorate so that on a routine visit to The National Neurological Hospital in London she collapsed and ended up in Intensive Care for 3 months and lost the use of her right hand side.

Hannah returned home but knew due to her health issues she would have to give up her degree. At this time her grandmother introduced her to a wonderful Italian lady, a retired teacher who could see that Hannah needed a project, and so Hannahs book ‘Invisible Struggle’ began to be composed.

Hannah wanted the book to help, support and advice others like her and so when sadly Hannah died in 2014 after a great battle, her family decided to start Hannahs Fund ,a charity to help and support people and families affected by syndromes such as Hannahs i.e. those affected by Craniosynostosis .

Hannahs Fund can provide emotional support through psychotherapy to anyone with Craniosynostosis or a relative of the individual eg a sibling or parent. Hannahs three siblings are determined that family members should be recognized and receive support if needed.

For further information please look at www.hannahlindfield.co.uk

and there you will find a link to Hannahs Fund.

Milli Lindfield

If you are interested in joining us at the Callington U3A go to www.u3asites.org.uk/Callington  or come along on the first Monday of the month 10am Callington Town Hall.