Mum of tragic Dottie aims to become nurse
AHYNDBURN mum whose newborn baby girl died after delays in transferring her to another hospital has started training to become a nurse in a bid to help other families.
Doctors at Burnley General Hospital failed to detect a rare heart defect after Dottie Adamson was born on November 30, 2018. They also failed to speed up her transfer to a specialist hospital despite her parents’ desperate pleas.
At an inquest last month bosses from East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust apologised for issues in Dottie’s care and admitted
that there had been “oversights”.
Parents Becky Curwen and Chris Adamson, who have four other daughters, have dedicated the years since Dottie’s tragic death to raising money for Ronald McDonald House in Manchester which provides accommodation for families of children in hospital.
The couple, from Rising Bridge, are now halfway towards their target of £5,000 which will allow them to dedicate a room in Dottie’s memory.
“After getting through the inquest I had promised myself I would do something to raise money that put me out of my comfort zone so I’ve now signed up to do a sky dive with four others,” said mum Becky.
“I’m going to get up in that plane, get as close to Dottie as I can, and let go of all the trauma, anger and pain and start to try to rebuild my life in a positive way. I don’t want what’s happened to me to define me but to shape me into the person I am today and hopefully something positive can come out of the tragedy.”
As well as fundraising to help other families whose children are in hospital Becky has also made a huge life decision in light of Dottie’s death.
She is currently in her first year as a trainee nurse
at Salford University so that she can “give the best possible service to others that Dottie didn’t get”.
“After everything that happened I couldn’t go back to the job I did before,” Becky said.
“I worked in a beauty salon for 11 years but I decided I needed a career change. Every time I went into the hospital to see Dottie I used to think ‘I’d love to
do this’ and then what happened with Dottie just set me off on that journey. It’s all helping me; there’s no better feeling than helping other people and I’ve found that’s helped me so much.
“We didn’t get the best service but I want to give that to other parents.”
To donate to Becky’s fundraising campaign visit justgiving.com and search for ‘Rebecca Curwen’.