Just after her first birthday our daughter became ill and we took her to our GP for medical help. The GP examined her and after numerous calls she was rushed to hospital. Our daughter was examined in the A&E department and admitted to the Children’s ward but they did not carry out any initial tests to diagnose bacterial meningitis, this led to a delay in her treatment.
Due to the meninges infection, our daughter suffered from subdural empyema on her brain and had to have bore hole surgery to her head to relieve the pressure. She was then put on a course of treatment to fight the infection.
Whilst we thought she was recovering in hospital, we noticed that her smile was lop sided and there was obviously another problem. Our daughter had suffered similar effects to that of a mini stroke and also started to have seizures before leaving hospital. This led to her having learning and cognitive difficulties as she was growing up.
We coped with our daughter’s disabilities by ourselves for many years and it was not until my husband heard a radio advert by Stamp, Jackson & Procter LLP back in 2000 that we decided to seek advice.
By this time our daughter was about 13 years old and it was becoming more and more difficult for my husband and I to balance everyday life and her care.
We spoke with a Solicitor at Stamp, Jackson and Procter LLP and he decided that we had a case against our local NHS Trust. After a couple of years Neil Holland took over the case and he worked extremely hard for us to gain a settlement. When we finally received the settlement we had already had talks with Neil Holland about the pros and cons of setting up a Trust to manage the award, or whether to use the services of the Court of Protection.
We decided the best option for us was to set up a Trust managed by Neil Holland and ourselves. The Trust has an investment portfolio which is looked after by the Wealth Management Team at Stamp Jackson & Procter LLP.
The Trust receives a yearly payment from the NHS Litigation Authority which is added to the Trust.
This Trust has helped to purchase a property for our daughter to live in, that is located near to us and is adapted for our daughter’s needs, the Trust also helps to pay for support workers who provide care and support on a daily basis to make sure our daughter is properly cared for. We now no longer need to worry about the payment of bills to care for our daughter and this allows us to spend quality time with her.
We did not know what to do when we realised that our daughter was no longer the same girl, aged just 1 year old. We were simply focused on caring for her as any parent would be. Our attention is now turning to the long-term care that our daughter will need as we get older and physically less capable.
This is why we chose to set up the Trust with SJP Law as they have been with us from day one and have become friends to the family in helping to provide advice, contacts for help, wealth management advice, a plan for our daughter’s future care and even helped with having our daughters house signed off by the Health and Safety Executive to make sure it was suitable for her needs.
Having now known Neil Holland and the team at SJP Law for over 12 years, we would thoroughly recommend their services to anyone who is in a similar position and needs legal help and advice to care for a relative who has suffered from a life changing delayed diagnosis.
