Bryony Aveyard's £40k legacy for Wellchild nursing charity (From York Press)

Bryony Aveyard's £40k legacy for Wellchild nursing charity

8:42am Wednesday 7th October 2009 in Search By Richard Harris

A YEAR ago today a family’s life changed forever with the death of 11-year-old Bryony Aveyard from a brain haemorrhage.

But since then her parents, Kath and Rob Aveyard, of Woodside Avenue in Burnholme, have fundraised tirelessly, determined that some good may come out of their daughter’s tragic death.

Now they have revealed that in only a year they have raised £40,000 and are now planning one of their biggest fundraising events – a dinner, dance and auction at the Royal York Hotel.

It was on September 29 that Bryony Aveyard woke her parents complaining of a headache.

Thinking it could be meningitis they took her to York Hospital, but as she was carried through the doors she stopped breathing.

She was transferred to a Leeds hospital and underwent an operation to remove a blood clot from her brain. Kath said: “Bryony was critical and the next few days would tell.

“She had had a massive brain haemorrhage in her brain stem, the worst place you can possible have one.

“They had removed the clot, but it was total devastation in there and if she survived then she would have had to have a lot more surgery. She would be severely brain- damaged and really they held little hope for her.

“‘We are in miracle territory’, we were told.

“Our world fell apart – our beautiful girl, it just wasn’t possible.

“Once they had got Bryony settled we were allowed in to see her, there were machines and wires everywhere, but in the midst that was our gorgeous little girl.

“She really didn’t look poorly.

“We felt as though any moment she would sit up and go ‘fooled you’, so we prayed for our miracle for the next nine days – but with each day were made more aware of what was going to be our fate.”

On October 7 of last year, Bryony’s mum and dad took the heartbreaking decision to turn her life- support machine off.

Since then they have been fundraising for the charity For the Love of Bryony – Wellchild, which aims to raise £55,000 for a Wellchild nurse for the Yorkshire area.

Kath said: “Losing Bryony has been unbearable, but it has certainly made us appreciate what wonderful people there are in the world.”

She said despite the heartache, Bryony’s brother James did extremely well in his GCSEs and is “a credit to us and to his sister’s memory and that has been a driving force for him and for us”.

The dinner, dance and auction takes place on November 28 – the day before what would have been Bryony’s 13th birthday.

Tickets for the black-tie event cost £35 and are available by phoning Kath on 01904 422853 or emailing kath.aveyard@tiscali.co.uk Anyone who can help with auction prizes is also asked to contact her.

Kath said: “We really want to thank everyone who has been involved with all our events and the businesses who are helping promote our charity. There are too many to mention individually.”