Swanwick father pays tribute to daughter with rare brain condition (From Daily Echo)
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Swanwick father pays tribute to daughter with rare brain condition
12:50pm Thursday 17th January 2013 in News
Poppy Pilcher
A FATHER has paid tribute to the seven-year-old daughter he lost, describing her as the “light in our life”.
Poppy Pilcher was diagnosed at eight weeks old with pontocerebellar hypoplasia, a rare brain condition, and died after she stopped breathing, an inquest heard.
Dad Tony came in to wake his daughter in the morning and found her lifeless at the family home in Swanwick Lane, Swanwick. Despite efforts by paramedics and staff at Queen Alexandra Hospital to resuscitate Poppy, she was pronounced dead at the hospital that morning, March 3 last year.
Poppy had shown no signs of being unwell and had attended school in Fareham as normal the day before, the inquest heard. A post-mortem concluded Poppy died from respiratory failure – the commonest cause of death in people with this condition.
Portsmouth assistant deputy coroner Karen Harrold gave a verdict of death from natural causes. After the inquest Mr Pilcher said: “She was a lovely light in our life. She was such a gorgeous, happy little girl and she’ll be deeply missed.”
