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The Aila Coull Foundation |
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About Aila Aila Coull was born on the 22nd April 2011. A little sister to Archie and a much longed for daughter to Sine & Fraser. Although it may sound clichéd, she really was one in a million. For 9 months Aila was a happy, normal baby. She was so content, her mummy often referred to her as ‘an angel baby’. She was always happy to sit & watch the world go by, taking everything in around her. Aila had a huge appetite, she was one of these kids whose face you barely had to wipe after a meal as everything went down the hatch but, one day in Feb 2012 she went completely off her food. A week or so later she had a nose bleed which lasted for 36 hours and then bled intermittently for the rest of that week. She had been bruising very easily and as time went on she became paler and paler in colour. 6 days after the nose bleed began Aila was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, she was just 10 months old and the Coull family’s lives were changed forever. Aila was treated for 5 months in Yorkhhill Children’s Hospital in Glasgow with some of the most intense chemotherapy protocols available to a small baby. The strength of this chemo caused her immune system to be so depleted that she spent the majority of her time in hospital, almost a third of her life, in strict isolation where she could have no visitors. Only her mummy & daddy and the medical staff taking care of her could be in her room. She & her big brother used to shout at each other through a vent in the wall and she would bounce at the window every time she saw her grandparents looking in. She had no cuddly toys, everything had to be hard, plastic & wipeable to reduce her chances of catching an infection which could have been fatal. The chemo caused some horrible side effects but Aila sailed through. The sterile environment of her hospital room became her home and she thrived in there. When others on the ward asked how she was coping with her treatment we used to say “chemo-schmemo”. She was just a baby and it took everyone’s breaths away how she took everything that was thrown at her in her stride. She danced through soaring temperatures and escaped going up to the intensive care unit in Yorkhill on several occasions by the skin of her teeth….probably because she knew she couldn’t watch Cbeebies up there! But devastatingly, Aila’s leukaemia was extremely chemo resistant and with every 5-6 week round of treatment she had, more leukaemia came back. She was all set to have a bone marrow transplant but sadly they could not clear enough leukaemia to be able to successfully transplant her and so, on the 10th of August, 5 months to the day after her diagnosis, Aila left Yorkhill Children’s Hospital for home with no more treatment available to her. Aila had 3 precious weeks at home with her family and on the 2nd Sept, surrounded by love and holding her mummy & daddy’s hands she passed on to the angels. Aila’s gentle, but strong nature has inspired her parents to set up The Aila Coull Foundation in her memory in an attempt to help save other children with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia through research and awareness of the disease. It won’t bring Aila back but if the foundation can help save one life then Aila’s suffering will not have been in vain. |
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Latest Event 5th—6th August 2013
Aila’s Adventure |
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