TWELVE months ago tomorrow, we nearly lost our son, who collapsed in the car park entrance to the West Wing at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

This is a letter of thanks to all the staff at the hospital, especially the porter whose quick action prevented what could have been a very tragic event, to the crash team whose speedy response saved his life and to all the staff on the children’s day care ward who had this unexpected arrival.

To all the staff in the paediatric gastro team, children’s high dependency unit, staff and nurses on Melanie’s Ward and special thanks to the surgical team for the three life-saving operations our son had to have. We cannot thank everyone enough for their expertise, care and compassion during the 31 days our son was in hospital.

We would also like to thank our parents, all of our friends, the Cherwell School and Oxford & Cherwell Valley College at Bicester for all of their help and support during this very traumatic time – we couldn’t have got through it without you all.

Thank you to all of the above without whom we as parents would not be able to celebrate this 12-month anniversary.

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