Luna’s Story

Zoë‘s Place has been a life saver for us

Our daughter Luna, was born via emergency C-section at 26weeks +3days while we were on our weeks holiday in the emirates. Due to being so premature Luna developed a bleed on the brain which caused her to have many health conditions. Being told at just a few weeks old she would have a poor quality of life was utterly heart-breaking.

As a result of the bleed she ended up having hydrocephalus where she needed to have a shunt fitted to save her life. The first year of her life we found out she was blind, had epilepsy and had cerebral palsy. To hear all of this was just devastating to us and you can only think of the worse possible scenarios for the future that lies ahead.

Day to day life is very difficult for our family as Luna needs our care and attention all day to keep her happy, content and to do all her medicines and feed regimens. She depends on us for everything, from lifting and carrying her, feeding, changing, interaction and to develop her senses. She also can’t talk which is extremely difficult especially when she is in pain and can’t tell us.

It was coming up to her 2nd birthday when we found out about Zoe’s Place through our professionals that we see for Luna …what a life changer for our family!

We were so excited to have our first visit and meet the staff at Zoe’s Place, and to see if Luna would settle well with being around other people. The set up of the rooms, play areas and the sensory room was just so amazing and I knew instantly Luna would love to come here.

Luna settled very quickly and was very happy playing and interacting with the staff while I went through some paperwork. I felt so at ease and comfortable with Luna being here I just knew it was going to be a life line for us and a happy and secure place for Luna to come and stay.

Luna is now 4.5years old and goes to Zoe’s Place regularly, once or twice a month for a night or two. When I tell her where we are going she is super happy and excited to be going for play time and a sleep over. Luna benefits so much from attending Zoe’s Place, they are with her 24/7 and she is getting the best care and support. The number of activities she does whilst there is just amazing; from painting, music therapy, light and sensory play, going on walks, going to the theatre, having animals brought in for the children to cuddle and touch…she loves it all! All of this while tending to her needs, doing physio to help her development and all her medical needs that have to be met throughout the day.

When she is there, we know that Luna is in the best hands and we can have some time to relax, do some house chores, and spend our quality time with our 2year old. It just gives us some breathing space and to recharge ourselves for a few days.

Zoe’s Place has literally been a life saver for us and we can’t thank them enough for all that they do for Luna and our family.

The support that is given to us and the other families is so desperately needed to just be able to breathe and take time out for ourselves and the rest of our family.