Katy Holmes 29 May 2001 - 19 Jan 2012

www.katyholmestrust.co.uk 

At the tender age of 10 years old Katy was always a very bright, vibrant, kind, loving, pure, innocent and genuine child who would do anything for anyone. She was a very popular little girl with both the girls and the boys! She never had a bad word to say about anybody. Katy was a high achiever and was predicted to be well above average in all subjects by the time she left primary school in the summer of 2012.

Throughout her years at school she had been Mary in the nativity, School Council Representative, House Captain and finally she became Head Girl. Katy was very proud of herself and she always knew how proud we were of her because we told her all of the time. Katy loved her little sister Charley (8) and her older siblings Kelly, Lee and Craig very much and was eagerly awaiting the birth of her new brother or sister in the new year .

It was after a holiday to Florida in August 2011 that Katy’s mum noticed Katy’s personality had began to change she had become bit moody and was not at all herself. At a school assembly when accepting a certificate Katy didn't smile. When asked about it, Katy didn't even seem to realise. After Katy started to uncharacteristically fall asleep in the afternoons and started suffering headaches she was taken to the doctor who, taking no chances, referred her straight to the hospital where a CT scan was done. The scan came back clear and Katy was allowed to go home with suspected migraines. On return from a school trip the teacher noticed that in the photo's one of Katy's eyes looked strange. Katy’s mum became very concerned and took took her straight back to hospital and insisted they do further tests. They kept her in for observations over the weekend where her symptoms worsened. AnMRI scan on Monday the 10th October revealed her devastating diagnosis. Katy had an inoperable and terminal Brain Stem Diffuse Pontine Glioma.

Katy's only treatment option was to have 30 fractions of cranial radiotherapy and even then she might have between 6-9 months to live. The grief for Katy’s parents was unbearable. They chose not to tell her feeling that it would be too hard and difficult for Katy to understand. Despite a course of treatment over a 6 week period during the following 3 months Katy's condition took a downward turn and her health deteriorated quickly. Katy’s family were told to expect the worse and prepared themselves to say goodbye to her, the first time only 2 weeks after diagnosis when she contracted pneumonia, as if this wasn’t bad enough it also meant telling Charley Katy’s, little sister the truth about her sister and enduring the additional pain of trying to explain to her that her sister would be going to a special place and not coming back. However Katy proved stronger than anyone could have expected and each time she miraculously pulled giving raise to hope that maybe just maybe she could beat this cruel illness. Throughout Katy’s illness 

Charley never told her big sister just how seriously ill she was, such a cruel burden to carry on such young shoulders

Katy was in and out of hospital and the hospice and despite everything she was going through she remained so polite and thoughtful throughout, she had lost the ability to swallow, see, hear, feel, use her legs, use her arms, move, go to the toilet, in fact by the end she had lost the ability to do everything, even blinking to communicate. Katy never lost her mind though. That was the cruellest thing of all

Despite searching all over the world for different treatments, there was to be no hope at every corner there was to be a dead end there just is no cure for this tragic and cruel childhood disease. The local community set about raising money so that Katy could fulfil her wish list but Katy continued to deteriorate and never got to appreciate their efforts. Katy’s little baby sister was induced 2 weeks early on 01/12/2011 as Mum’s waters had been slowly breaking, it was decided that Katy should have the chance to meet her before it was too late. Christmas and then New Year passed but inevitably after a long, hard, brave battle, Katy's body finally gave up. She died peacefully in a big double bed with dad Dave and Mum Paula cuddled up to her holding each hand. All the time her favourite Disney CD was playing. It was very peaceful. She died at 1am on the 19th January 2012