When I was 20 weeks pregnant we found out that our daughter had a bowel obstruction, which we later found out was meconium ileus, a blockage of the small intestine in a newborn caused by excessively thick meconium, which is usually as a result of CF.  

We were referred to Southampton Hospital for a scan to confirm and had blood tests there and then.  We were both aware of CF and knew a little bit of what it involved, but neither of us knew of anyone in our family with CF, or of anyone who was a carrier.  A week or so later we received a call to say that we were both carriers and it was likely that the issues our daughter was having was because she had CF.  From then we went for regular scans and I was induced at 38 weeks to avoid the risk of the bowel perforating.  Sophie was born and the next day had surgery to remove 20% of her bowel. We stayed in Southampton for 3 weeks and by the time we left the hospital it was confirmed that she did have CF.  The basic daily routine for a child with CF started immediately, taking Creon and physio twice a day.  Once we were back home in Basingstoke we had a visit from Dr Priya Ilangovan where we discussed the clinics Sophie would be attending every month and spoke about CF in general.  At our first clinic we were given information about a charity called Anna’s Challenges.  We were given a handy little ring binder to hold all the notes and information we might need at home.  Then as Sophie got older, we were given a space hopper for her to use for physio (we called him Calvin the Cow), when she was a bit older we came home to a trampoline on our doorstep… all from Anna’s Challenges.  

Over the past 5 years Anna’s Challenges have helped pay for Sophie’s dance lessons, we were given vouchers for Toys R Us, Pizza Express, Costa on different occasions when Sophie was admitted for IV Antibiotics.  We’ve been given advent calendars, Christmas presents, Easter eggs..!  We also received a bigger trampoline in 2020 during lockdown which Sophie absolutely loved and we were so grateful for when we were stuck at home shielding.  We really appreciate everything that Anna's Challenges have done for us over the years, so when we heard they would be no more, we jumped at the chance of taking it on ourselves to continue with all of the amazing work they have done in supporting children with CF in our area.