Girl turns thank you into an art form
ATALENTED girl who has spent much of the last 12 months in hospital battling Crohn’s Disease has expressed her own thanks for the NHS.
Hollie Ferguson, of Bacup, is now safely back at home after recovering from a nasty bacterial infection at Royal Oldham Hospital.
The coincidence of the illness with the coronavirus outbreak was especially frightening for the St Joseph’s RC Primary pupil and her family, with Crohn’s sufferers particularly vulnerable due to immune system defects.
In February Hollie had a major operation on her ear called a mastiodectomy due to chronic infection on her mastoid bone.
Unfortunately, three days after this operation she ended up back in hospital due to bad infection and had another emergency operation. She was back in Royal Oldham again on April 3 as her ear was still no better and getting more inflamed and she was fighting a bacterial infection.
After being treated with strong IV antibiotics in a self-isolated room by nurses wearing full PPE, Hollie returned home to Anderson Close last week where she is continuing her 12-week enforced self-isolation.
Hollie loves arts and crafts, so in recognition of the coronavirus crisis she drew and coloured in pictures (with a bit of help from mum Hannah) before handing over the artwork to thank them for their efforts.
Hannah, who works for Rossendale council, said: “The hospital really liked them and they ended up taking copies and handing them out.”
Hannah said Hollie was due to have a bowel operation in March, but that has now been rescheduled until later this year. She is also confined to a liquid diet until the end of June.
Hannah added: “She is alright. She is a bit fed up because she cannot eat and we missed out on Easter. She has spent a lot of time in and out of hospital her whole life, these last 12 months though have possibly been the hardest and most draining.
“But one thing is it doesn’t faze Hollie and she has been a trooper throughout.
“She’s a very brave girl and amazes me with how she doesn’t let this bother her in the slightest.”
Hollie’s dad Chris works for sports pitch marking company Linemark UK, while she also has brothers Leighton, nine, and Harrison, five.