St Andrew's Hospice has Bravest Child in the Uk

Publish Date: 25 August 2011

Remarkable Sophie from Lincoln is rewarded for bravery with national WellChild Award

Five-year-old Sophie Cooper who uses St Andrew's Children's Hospice and lives in Dunholme, Lincoln has been named as a winner in the prestigious national WellChild Awards 2011 and will be off to collect her prize in London in August having been nominated by her mum, auntie and a family friend.

 Sophie, who has cerebral palsy and a number of other serious health conditions including chronic lung disease was picked from 100's of nominations from across the UK to win the category of Bravest Child in these Awards which celebrate the courage of children coping with serious illnesses or complex conditions and honour the dedication of professionals who go the extra mile to help sick children and their families. The Awards are run by WellChild, the national charity for sick children.

 Sophie, whose Award was kindly sponsored by BMI Healthcare, will be one of the stars of the show at August's high profile Awards ceremony, which has been attended over the past few years by many of WellChild's celebrity supporters, including Royal Patron Prince Harry.

 Sophie's health problems, which also include epilepsy and require 24-hour care developed following her extremely premature birth with twin sister Erica. Erica is also mildly affected with cerebral palsy. Because of Sophie's continuing health problems Erica and three-year-old sister Kyla, have spent many weeks separated from their mum, Leanne, while Sophie has been in hospital. In recent months Sophie has again been in and out of hospital undergoing treatments to improve her digestive system, leaving ex-RAF dad, Craig, to care for the other girls.

 Leanne describes how Sophie, who cannot walk or talk, always breaks into a beaming smile the moment a painful or traumatic medical procedure has finished, as if desperate to reassure her parents that she is OK.

 Helen Askew, a close family friend who also nominated Sophie for this WellChild Award said: "Watching how Sophie copes with her seemingly unbearable problems makes you realise how insignificant your own worries are. She has such happiness in her heart and never shows how hard it must be for her."

 Last year, commenting on the impact of the WellChild Award winners and the work of the charity, Prince Harry gave a speech in which he said: "Your courage and spirit is a lesson to us all. I feel honoured to be Patron of this amazing charity, WellChild. The charity really does make a huge difference to so many children and families across the country."

 With hundreds of nominations received from across the country, the difficult job of choosing winners in all 15 WellChild Award categories is given, each year, to an esteemed panel of judges. That panel consists of health professionals, parents and others with an interest in children's health.

 WellChild's Director of Programmes, Linda Partridge, is also a member of that panel. She said: "It is a tremendous challenge to select winners from the many, many truly amazing nominations we receive from all over the country. All the panel members are moved by the bravery of the children, the stories of selfless care and support and the dedication of the doctors, nurses, teachers, brothers and sisters who make a great difference to the lives of sick children. Sophie truly deserves to be the winner of this award.

"The Awards are a perfect demonstration of WellChild's commitment to helping as many seriously ill children and their families as we can through our programmes of care, support and research and embody our aim of raising awareness of the needs of people who are too often overlooked."

 Sophie will receive her award at the seventh Annual WellChild Awards ceremony on 31^st August at the InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel.

 At this star-studded event, Sophie will meet a host of WellChild celebrity supporters, who attend each year to celebrate the courage of brave children and honour the dedicated work of the country's health professionals. In addition to Royal Patron, Prince Harry, previous WellChild Award evenings have been attended by rock legend Rod Stewart with his wife Penny Lancaster Stewart, footballer Jermain Defoe, pop band Scouting for Girls, Dancing on Ice star Laura Hamilton, Duncan Bannatyne, BBC presenter Chris Hollins and many more.