This terminally ill mum is trying to find new family for her disabled daughter

This will break your heart

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by Emma Dodds |
Published on

A terminally ill mum has launched a search to find a new mother for her disabled daughter - as she only has six months left to live.

Vicky Pickard, 44, from Essex, has been a single mum to her 19-year-old daughter Jessica - who has Toriello-Carey syndrome -since she was nine-months-old.

Vicky has single-handedly raised Jess and, although her parents will be on-hand to help out, she is determined to find someone to take her place. She said to The Mirror: "As soon as my surgeon said it was pancreatic cancer, I knew I would die.

"It was complete and utter panic because of Jess. It's every parent's worst nightmare but ­especially because of Jess's disabilities. I knew it was a case of buying time."

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Vicky has single-handedly raised and cared for Jess her whole life (Credit: Go Fund Me/ Fundraising for Vicky & Jess) ©Go Fund Me/ Fundraising for Vicky & Jess

Jessica is only the seventh person in the entire world to be diagnosed with the syndrome, which has symptoms such as hypotonia (reduced muscle strength), either abnormal or missing vital nerves in the brain and heart defects, amongst many other things. She also has epilepsy and is on the autism spectrum.

Vicky selflessly gave up her hospital job as a clinical support worker at Basildon Hospital's maternity unit so that she could be a full-time carer for Jess, who was diagnosed with the condition at five months old.

She knew there was something wrong during her pregnancy as she "hadn't felt her move much", and at a 32-week scan, tests showed that Jess had a condition called entriculomegaly, which means that there was excess fluid in her brain ventricles: "I was told it could be Down's syndrome, a genetic disorder or it could be nothing."

Doctors told Vicky that Jessica wouldn't live past one, but she is now 19 and totally proved them wrong.

Vicky said: "On paper, she sounds quite scary. But in reality she's the most caring, loving, funny young lady there is. She makes her condition easy to cope with because of who she is. She's my ray of sunshine."

Her friends have also set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money for Jessica's care, which currently stand at over £3,500. They also organised a Disney-themed charity concert which was held at St. Georges Church in London yesterday afternoon.

Elle, a friend of Vicky's and organiser of the concert, spoke to us today about the concert. She said: "We had about 450 tickets up for sale and 380 people attend the concert.

"It absolutely exceeded our expectations of how it would go and we're very proud of the event.

"We had some incredibly generous donations of time, skills and experience from so many people, which really helped to make the event so successful. The feedback was incredible from everyone who attended.

"We're not quite done with trying to make a difference in the lives of Vicky and others with Pancreatic Cancer, so do watch this space."

They're still counting, but in total they raised over £10,000 from the concert tickets, raffles and GoFundMe account.

According to their site, The Vicky and Jess Fundraiser, the money raised as a result of the concert will go toward three separate things: "One: for Vicky - a friend, and a fighter. To give her the chance to create memories with her daughter, and to fight the best fight she can.

"Two: For St Luke's Hospice, Basildon. For the amazing work they do for all the patients in their care. This is where Vicky will likely spend her last days.

"Three: For Pancreatic Cancer UK - so that they can continue the fight against this truly horrible disease."

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Vicky is determined to find someone perfect to look after Jessica to take her place (Credit: Facebook/ Vicky and Jess Fundraiser) ©Facebook/ Vicky and Jess Fundraiser

A friend of Vicky's, Elle, updated her Go Fund Me page last week to say that she is on her second round of palliative chemo, which means that they are more focussing on relieving any pain than curing the cancer.

Although the first round had "devastating side effects that nearly killed her", she is now on a new round of treatment which she started two weeks ago. According to Elle, the first week after her treatment "was tough, but Vicky is thankfully feeling surprisingly good this week".

Vicky said: "The more time I have, the more I can put things in place for Jess's future."

We truly hope that Vicky is able to find someone to take her place in looking after Jess.

Have you ever had or adopted a disabled child? Let us know over on Facebook and Twitter.

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