Ivy's legacy will live on as Oswestry family prepares to launch fundraising drive

Ivy Morris was just four months old when she died in the emergency unit at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in May.

Born with a severe brain injury, Ivy spent weeks in hospital following her birth, and on May 3, passed away after collapsing at home during a feed.

Determined to make sure her baby daughter's death would not be in vain, mother Tamsin is now preparing to mark Ivy's first birthday on December 15 by presenting £1,150 to Hope House in Oswestry, to thank them for the support they have provided the family since Ivy's death.

The sum of money, which was raised prior to Ivy's death by friends and family who banded together to run the Manchester 10K, was originally going to be used to fund sensory equipment to help her at home.

But now the funds will instead help other children and young people with life-limiting illness by making sure their final days are as happy and comfortable as possible, as well as supporting their loved ones through respite and counselling.

Tamsin, of Lilac Grove, Oswestry, said: "Losing Ivy has been extremely difficult for us as a family, especially because we never could've foreseen it as I had a healthy pregnancy with Ivy.

"It's been tough for her big sister Edie too. Edie's only three years old and telling her that her baby sister wasn't coming home was hard because she doesn't quite understand – how do you explain that to a three year old?

"But in all of this, Hope House have been incredible.

"Until Ivy's death I didn't realise how much they did for families, particularly after death.

"I have counselling with them, they've also offered sibling support for Edie too, they've been wonderful.

"I just feel it's right that we donate the money that would've been spent on the equipment to this brilliant charity, who have done so much for us but also for so many other children and their families."

Tamsin said the support they had received from Hope House had changed her outlook on hospices.

"I always thought of Hope House as a place for just palliative care and you think of hospices in general as being depressing places," she said.

"But what staff do at Hope House is brilliant.

"It's a lovely environment and I can never thank them enough for what they've done for us."

After a year of grief and heartache, Tamsin is now ready to bravely look to the future and keep little Ivy's memory alive.

She is preparing to launch a fund, with the money raised going to Hope House, by the end of this month.