‘Our Jemma will never be forgotten’
THE name of a tragic teenage girl was written in giant letters on Ainsdale beach as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the condition that took her life.
Jemma Roberts, from Wigan, died aged 13 in 2014 from toxic shock syndrome (TSS), a severe form of sepsis.
Her parents are now sharing photos of her name written in sand on beaches around the world and have raised nearly £40,000 while raising awareness of the rare but life-threatening condition.
More than 150 friends and family have taken pictures of her name in the sand on beaches including in China, America, New Zealand and Malaysia.
The third photo was taken by a group of Jemma’s childhood friends in Ainsdale.
Jemma’s mother Diane, 47, came up with the touching idea after an old photo of her daughter resurfaced on her Facebook timeline.
It showed her young daughter on Conwy beach in North Wales, which was one of her favourite spots.
She told the Manchester Evening News: “Her godmother was planning on visiting Conway beach that weekend. I’m not sure why but I just asked her to write Jemma’s name in the sand. “It escalated from that.
“Friends of the family, from music and from swimming, they all started doing it.”
Jemma’s name has been written on 152 beaches in locations such as Clearwater Beach in Florida, Aruba, Coney Island in New York and Ontario in Canada.
Diane said: “It’s really overwhelming. It means that people are still thinking about her even when they are on their holidays.”
She is a volunteer at Toxic Shock Syndrome Aware and the UK Sepsis Trust.
She and husband Tony, 45, have raised £39,681 over the past three years through their crowdfunding page. They hope that these photos will help them make it to £40,000.
She said: “I think the only continent we haven’t had a photo from is Antarctica.”
After Jemma’s friends left school, Diane and Tony stopped donating to the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool and the Ronald McDonald House.
“We had done all we really could. We wanted to do more to raise awareness of sepsis,” she said.
When 50 photos were submitted, Diane and Tony donated £100, after 100 two people anonymously donated £150 and after 150, Tesco Extra donated £150.
Now money raised will go to the UK Sepsis Trust, a Birmingham-based charity which aims to save lives and help those who survive the condition.
Sepsis is rare but life-threatening and occurs when the body’s immune systems reacts in an extreme way.
Jemma, who attended Standish Community High School, fell ill while on a family holiday in 2014. She was wrongly diagnosed with the winter vomiting bug, norovirus.
She was actually suffering from TSS and died a week later after being transferred from Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital to the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
The NHS lists these TSS symptoms: High temperature (fever) of 39°C (102.2°F) or above; flu-like symptoms, such as a headache, chills, muscle aches, a sore throat and a cough; sickness; diarrhoea; a widespread sunburn-like rash; the whites of the eyes, lips and tongue turning a bright red; dizziness or fainting; breathing difficulties; drowsiness
Go to www.sepsistrust.org for more information.