It is with an achey heart i write this blog in honour of the inspirational Katie-Marie Gammon. I am Katie's sister Louise and i will be continuing Kates blog. As a family we are still eager to campaign and raise awareness for organ donation and Cystic Fibrosis.
Im sure by now you're all aware that Katie lost her battle of 17 years on the 23rd August 2015. Even in her death Katie shown her courage and bravery. After being told on her 17th birthday (crap timing we know) that there was nothing that could be done for her and it was time to go to end of life care. Katie had caught a fungal infection that revealed itself to late and had already destroyed the rest of her lungs and no treatment was treating or even slightly improving it. As you will have read on here previously, Katie was also battling antibody rejection which had also dangerously damaged her lungs. She was having radiotherapy to kill the antibodies in her body but Katie's body didn't take kindly to the radiation. Radiotherapy was then stopped. Katie spent the last 6 weeks of her life in Hospital trying to find the cause to her deterioration. After two weeks on Caroline Thorpe ward she was blue lighted to Great Ormand Street Childrens Hospital where she had an emergency bronc and biopsy. There were some complications and Katie ended up in PICU. We were then told it looked like rejection so Katie was treated for Chronic Rejection, Katie improved a minimal amount and was transferred back to bear ward for a couple of days. Katie again began to worsen and suffered massively. Back to PICU we went and Katie worsened each day. She was needing lots of oxygen to maintain Sats barely in the 90s. It was then we were told the next few days were crucial and we needed some sort of response to all treatment as it was in fact infection not chronic rejection. No improvement took place and Katie was shattered. At this stage she was just sleeping and struggling to breathe. Then our worst fears were confirmed. As a family we had choices to make. Once Katie accepted her destiny she took charge and wasn't going to go on anyones terms. She told us who she wanted to see before she died, things she wanted people to have, messages for us to tell people, how and where she wanted to die and her funeral arrangements. At first Katie wanted to be transferred to our local children's hospice to pass away. Although we were told Katie might not make it home in the ambulance we still wanted to take this risk as we knew our Katie was a fighter and would hang on. We made it to our local hospital children's ward which was what was suppose to be for two days then to be transferred to the hospice. As soon as we arrived on Caroline Thorpe Ward they took us to the room she always stayed in. The staff the night before when they heard what was happening only went a brought decorations for Katie and made it lovely and homely for her. Katie then said I'm not scared here and i feel safe now. It was then Katie asked if she could die in Hospital where she knew everyone. All the staff were amazing and did everything possible to make her last days comfortable. They made it all about Katie and her decisions she told them she didn't want to suffer any longer so all treatments were stopped. It took a while to balance the right amount of drugs to make her comfortable but they did it and when they did she was peaceful and no longer struggling. The last thing Katie told us before she began end of life treatments was that she loved us all. On sunday 23rd at approximately 3.20pm Katie took her last breath and went to sleep with the angels. She went peacefully with her family by her side. Katie was laid to rest on 07/09/15 with a full church! It was a beautiful service and everything the way Katie wished. We miss her every passing second and we know this pain will never go away. Breathe Easy our Angel <3
Thank you to Katies Donor and Donor family for being heroes and allowing us two more years with our amazing girl. In those years Katie felt more alive than she had ever felt her whole life and she managed to do things we thought she never would! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Please everyone think about joining the organ donor register.
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| 20/08/1998 - 23/08/2015 |
