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Will you help families like Lara's today?

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£5 could provide bereavement support to help a family cope with the death of a child.

Lara’s family were seeking a safer life for their daughter after leaving war-torn Syria. Instead they found out her heart was working at only 10%. Lara’s dad, Mohamed, shared their story.

"We had to leave Syria because of the war; it was unsafe. We moved to Lebanon where Lara was born. She was a beautiful, cheerful and vibrant child.

But Lebanon was also unsafe for us and offered no future. We came to the UK in 2021 for a better life for all of us, especially for Lara.

Lara went to nursery school and was a very happy child, especially when her brother Jude was born. She was so excited to play with him as he grew up.

At the beginning of 2023, Lara and Jude contracted a virus. Lara stopped eating, she lost weight and she completely changed. She didn’t want to play, just wanted to sleep, made strange noises, and preferred fluids to solid food.

We took her to the doctor several times and they told us everything was fine. They said it was just a virus, but we weren’t comfortable with it. We started filming Lara 
every day.

In June 2023, we were preparing for Lara’s fifth birthday. Lara got sick again. We went to the doctor and showed them everything we had filmed. The doctor was silent and said she would have to go to the hospital.

At the hospital they did a chest x-ray, and something wasn’t right. And then we got a shock that changed our lives completely.

The doctor told us that Lara had a problem on the left side of her heart. I started crying. How did that happen?

They told us Lara would need a heart transplant; her heart was only functioning at 10%.

Lara’s heart was completely exhausted and she couldn’t go to school. She stayed in intensive care for 15 days. They told us she wouldn’t be coming home.

Although we live in Scotland we had to go to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle where they assessed Lara’s condition for a heart transplant. She was so ill that we feared she might have a heart attack during the journey.

They put her on a Berlin Heart. Finding a suitable heart was going to be very difficult. We were devastated and tired.

The Berlin heart also has risks so we feared bleeding or strokes that could end her life. Then we met Jen, our Family Support Worker from Rainbow Trust. 

She has helped us a lot with everything. She stayed with us throughout Lara’s journey at the Freeman Hospital for a year and four months.

She was wonderful to all of us.

Every week, she offered support, stayed with Lara in hospital and played with her. They did lots of arts, crafts and played games. Lara looked forward to Jen’s arrival and spending time with her.

She was so happy with her. It also gave me some time to take a break or to go shopping for essentials. 

Jude has spent half of his life living in hospital accommodation. Jen has also supported him, spending time with him and taking him out when we were busy and trying to juggle everything. He loved running around the park, playing and having time outside.

In April 2026, Lara received the gift of life, her new heart. We were so happy after all that waiting and fear.

Hope returned to our lives. Lara’s recovery was difficult and tiring; she had many complications, but everyone at the hospital was wonderful. Jen, too.

After Lara’s heart transplant, Jen continued to support all of us and Lara through her recovery. When we came back home, she provided online support every week. Initially Lara had to isolate, and we were afraid of infection and heart rejection. Jen helped to keep her busy during this time. They did arts and crafts, drawing, colouring and chatted.

While our stay in Newcastle has ended, we were both happy and sad to be leaving. The people at the Freeman Hospital were like family to us and supported us in every way. Thank you to everyone, and especially to the wonderful Jen, who stayed with us even after we returned home.

Thank you so much Jen and thank you so much Rainbow Trust. You are all amazing."

Please donate today so we can continue supporting seriously ill children, like Lara, and their families in desperate need of help.

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£5 could provide bereavement support to help a family cope with the death of a child.

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