'Sickness didn't stop the season of goodwill'

Christmas is for spending time with loved ones, but some families have to navigate hospital stays while trying to keep the festive magic alive

- GEORGIA TREVITT

After giving birth to her son Oliver last year, Laura, 41, and her family spent more than three months visiting him at Great Ormond Street Hospital - including Christmas Day

'From the moment we welcomed Oliver into the world in August 2023, we knew he had a challenging journey ahead.

Oliver has Down's syndrome and was born with a hole in his heart - which we knew was highly likely during pregnancy - and was on respiratory support from birth. My husband Christopher, 38, and I weren't expecting a smooth ride, but we could never have prepared for what was to come.

Oliver was transferred from hospital in Oxford, where he was born, to our local hospital in Northamptonshire. The hope was that from there he'd be allowed to go home and then he'd go to Great Ormond Street Hospital to have an operation to close the hole in his heart when he was six months old.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.

Oliver wasn't able to get off the respiratory support he was on, so he was transferred to Great Ormond Street in October where he had the operation a few days after arriving.

The procedure went as they had hoped but it became apparent that there was something else wrong.