Goodbye Daisy

Stephanie Nimmo's daughter, Daisy, was born with a rare, life-limiting, genetic disease. She had lots of things going on medically but in-between hospital stays, Daisy loved nothing more than going to school and spending time with her friends. Daisy had a learning disability; she used Makaton, a form of sign language, to help her communicate. Despite her minimal verbal skills Daisy understood everything; she knew exactly what was going on! Sadly, when Daisy was only ten her beloved Daddy died of cancer. Her teachers made a special book for us to read to her, helping Daisy to articulate her feelings about losing her Daddy. At the time Stephanie found that there were very few books that she could use which were aimed at helping Daisy communicate her feelings around her grief and loss. A year later Daisy succumbed to sepsis and she joined her Daddy in the stars. Daisy had been the life and soul of her school and the staff and children were devastated. Stephanie recalls visiting her friend whose daughter attended the school. She was really aware when she entered their home that the little girl was trying to make sense of it all - Stephanie was in the house, but where was Daisy? She, like Daisy, understood a lot of what was happening but she did not have the words to talk about how she felt. As Stephanie spoke to the teachers and therapists who had worked with Daisy and her friends at school several things struck her; statistically children in special schools are more likely to lose a classmate than a child in a mainstream school; death and grief are not curriculum subjects; very few resources exist to help children, especially non-verbal or learning-disabled children understand and communicate their feelings around death and dying. Goodbye Daisy is written in Daisy's honour to help others at an incredibly difficult time