The parents of a terminally ill Dundee baby have taken time away from their sick daughter’s bedside to join a fundraising walk.
Nicola Duncan and Peter Heggie revealed baby Willow, who is only six months, is back in the high dependency baby unit in Ninewells with three infections.
She is on antibiotics and oxygen as her distraught parents try to keep a near constant vigil at her bedside.
Willow has a rare condition and her brain doesn’t send the right signals to allow her to breathe.
She is completely blind and her parents have been told, if she gets through the current stage of her battle, she will be unable to walk and will be confined to a wheelchair.
After being born in November, Willow has spent all but one-and-a-half weeks of her short life in hospital – both in Edinburgh and in the high care dependency unit at Ninewells.
Fundraising walk
Parents Nicola and Peter joined other family members on Sunday as they took part in the fundraising walk.
Having already raised over £5,000 to adapt their home and bring Willow back to Linlathen, they hope to raise even more to make it a reality.
But Nicola and Peter have also been faced with the agonising reality that they may be too late in their attempts to have their daughter back in Dundee and, last week, met with funeral directors as they continue to prepare for the worst.
Nicola said: “Sadly Willow is back in the high dependency unit, having had three new infections.
“She is very poorly and we just don’t know what is going to happen next.
“It is just a waiting game for all of us but we know that Willow is terminally ill and the worst is going to happen some time.”
In order for Willow to be allowed home full time to her family they are having to make changes to their home to accommodate all the equipment they need to keep her alive.
The family live in a three-bedroomed home with their three boys and various other changes need to be made to make it suitable for them all.
Sponsored walk
Despite their heartache, Nicola and Peter join the rest of their family on Sunday on the Tay Bridge.
Peter said: “Everyone is doing so much to help us realise that and we decided we, along with Willow’s brothers, wanted to join the walk to support everyone helping us.”
To visit Willow’s fundraising page, click here.