One of the children of our group is Sophie Washington.  Despite battling with a rare form of Diabetes that the medical profession cannot completely understand, she has been actively raising money to help other children and pursuing her own dreams. The picture below shows Sophie with Mum Lisa shortly after getting her top GCSE results (a year early) -- 3 x A*, 4 x A, 2 x B The full article is posted in the Welywn & Hatfield Times.     Back in March 2010, Sophie organised a special one-off production of Blood Brothers (Note: this is a 10Mb scanned image file) to raise funds through DASH to purchase continuous glucose monitors for QEII Now see a picture of Sophie handing over an iPro continuous glucose monitor to Dr Raffles at QEII right here!

As you can see from the chart to the left, Sophie has single-handedly raised a significant amount of money to purchase all of this equipment and far exceeded her original target. Original Target: £3,000 Total Raised: £6,064.02

Following the purchase of two IPro2 Constant Glucose Monitoring Systems for QEII/Lister and UCLH, Sophie Washington went on to raise more to purchase outdoor toys for the Bluebell Ward children's garden, including a large wooden playhouse and several Little Tikes vehicles.    Sophie then turned her attention to giving something to the staff that have cared for her over the years on the ward.  She had previously glimpsed their dilapidated and shoddy 70's staff room and decided she wanted to refurbish it so they could have a lovely place to rest and put their feet up at break times.  Sophie knows that without their dedication, care and determination, she wouldn't have made it through the past few traumatic years.   Sophie purchased sofas and furniture with funds that were left and then contacted several local companies who donated a new kitchen, fridge freezer and blinds.  She also managed to find a company who fitted the kitchen too.  The work was carried out at the end of August with Sophie's dad, Tim, taking time off work to plaster, paint and revamp.   The official opening was held on Friday September 17th with local company, Bebo, providing a wonderful buffet for the forty people who attended.  Trust officials mixed with hospital staff and the press for a wonderful celebration of all Sophie has achieved during the past year despite still being chronically sick due to rare complications with her diabetes.