Jemima Layzell Trust
Griffin Toilet Hire have chosen the Jemima Layzell Trust as their charity of the year for 2019 and as well as raising awareness for the charity we are also donating a luxury toilet trailer for their annual ball which will be held on 18th May 2019 at Jordan’s Courtyard in Ilminster.
Jemima Layzell Trust
Jemima was born on 21st May 1998 and died 14th March 2012 a few months before her 14th birthday. She was christened and buried at Horton Church that was built many years ago by her great grandfather.
She grew up in Somerset and was our first child and eldest daughter. Her sister Amelia is two years younger and for the first 11 years of her life Amelia had an older sibling to both champion and challenge her. We have so many lovely memories of them both playing together and one of my greatest fears is that as time rolls on those memories will fade and some of them will become lost altogether.
Jemima’s Story
Conscientious and hard working, Jemima took pride in her school-work and particularly enjoyed the arts. Her sudden death, from a burst aneurism in her brain, was so random and without explanation.
Owing to the circumstances of her death Jemima was in the rare but privileged position to donate her organs. There were days when we thought she would survive. If she had lived she would have been severely disabled with loss of speech and the ability to communicate. She wouldn’t have been able to write, and half her body was paralysed. If she had survived she would have needed intense therapy and special beds, chairs, and equipment. I often wonder if we would have hidden her away as the stigma surrounding brain injury is still so prevalent. Or would we have been brave and out spoken about her trauma? Our mission today is to bring as much love and support to children with brain injury, their lives have been turned upside down and Jemima would want us to help.
Jemima kept a diary of her hopes and dreams as well as day-to-day observations that she recorded in her book ‘The Draft’.
Entry from Monday 8th August 2011
What a strange feeling it is to poo. You probably don’t want me to talk about it. I don’t see why poo is considered rude. It’s just a poo! Jesus pooed! It is a strange sensation. How sometimes it gets stuck half way, how sometimes it hurts, and other times it falls straight out in a mushy liquid. I don’t see why people are so disgusted by it. Well girls and adults are anyway. Some of the boys aren’t but then again they themselves are disgusting. Most of them, not all of them. But let’s not talk about Boys AGAIN!
As you can probably guess I’m on the loo. I’m in the downstairs loo at Grandma’s. My book that I’m reading is called ‘Red Riding Hood’. It’s actually better than I thought it would be, it says something I found really interesting: ‘How strange it is to have a sister, someone you might have been . . .’ I’ve never thought about it like that before.
Our Facebook page has a link to the Jemima Layzell Trust should anyone wish to donate or read more about the trust and what they provide for other people.
