After receiving “exceptional” community care for seven months, a young schoolgirl and her family have thanked the Walsall team responsible through a charity donation.

Harriet Wright and her family made a donation to Well Wishers and bought a charity mascot bear as a thank you for the care she received from the Community Children’s Nurse (CCN) Team.

On her first day of starting full-time school, Harriet (then aged four), fell poorly unexpectedly, complaining of leg pain and feeling tired.

After a visit to the Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU) and upon finding a non-blanching rash, she was diagnosed with a condition called Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP).

HSP affects the blood vessels and causes a spotty rash. It’s not usually serious but can sometimes lead to kidney problems. It’s more common in children, but adults can get it too.

This condition progressed for several weeks with symptoms getting worse. This caused:

• swollen and aching joints
• severe and sore blotches/bruising across her torso and limbs
• tiredness

These symptoms meant Harriet missed much of her start to school life.

During this time, she was looked after by the CCN team which kept a close eye on her progress through regular home visits to monitor her symptoms and health.

Mum Kelly said: “The team were exceptionally attentive and gave fantastic care and support to both Harriet and to me as her mum through this journey.

“The CCN’s looked after Harriet for over seven months doing weekly then monthly home visits until her final visit to the Paediatric Consultant where she was discharged having made a good recovery.

“Our whole experience of having several PAU visits, Consultant visits and CCN care has been a great experience, with everyone treating Harriet with much care and friendliness.

“We had personally never heard of this condition before and not knowing what to expect in the early days was really challenging and felt a long unknown journey at the time.

“Harriet has shown resilience in buckets and made fantastic progress since – getting back into a school routine and, as always, she is a smiley, happy and very energetic little girl.

Georgie Westley, Fundraising Manager at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “We are so glad to see Harriet is on the mend and that she received great care from our CCN team.

“A huge thank you for the donation to our charity as it helps us to provide the best experience possible for patients, service users and families.