Actress Sarah Alexander joins Steph Nimmo to launch Goodbye Daisy

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25.

January

2019.

Actress Sarah Alexander joins Steph Nimmo to launch Goodbye Daisy

Press Release - Literally PRinfo@literallypr.comJanuary 25^th 2019

Was This In The Planauthor & blogger launchesGoodbye Daisybook and website

Supporting children and communities after the death of a loved one

HIGH RES PRESS PHOTOS AVAILABLE:http://bit.ly/2S5mRxf(CREDIT LIZ ISLES)

London, United Kingdom, 25^thJanuary 2019: Last night, 50 people attended the officiallaunch of new children's picture book, Goodbye Daisy (Hashtag Press, £7.99) by prize-winning blogger and writer Stephanie Nimmo.

Written in honour of Stephanie's 12-year-old daughter, Daisy, who died in January 2017, Goodbye Daisy is targeted at children, parents, carers, health professionals and teachers with the aim of offering a safe space for children to express their feelings and emotions surrounding grief and bereavement.

Stephanie Nimmo invited guests to hang a star on the memory tree and talked about her own personal experiences caring for her daughter, Daisy. Steph talked of the aims of Goodbye Daisy and her ambitions for the website and book.

Stephanie said: "Daisy, like many of her school friends, had a learning disability, yet she still felt grief and sadness when her father died, when Daisy died I was acutely aware that her school friends needed to be supported through their own feelings of loss at grief.

"I discovered that children in special schools are more likely to experience the death of a friend yet few resources exist to support them, Goodbye Daisy is a vital resource to support children as well as providing advice and guidance to their parents and teachers."

Actress Sarah Alexander (photo attached - Sarah Alexander with Stephanie Nimmo, credit: Liz Isles Photography), who read from Goodbye Daisy at the launch event, said: "I was honoured to be asked to read this beautiful story this evening, it's an emotional read but will help so many children who experience the death of a loved one."

Motherland creator and writer, Helen Linehan, who attended the launch of Was This In The Plan? (Hashtag Press, September 2017, £12.99) added: "I have followed Steph's journey for many years, I know that Goodbye Daisy was a labour of love and will really help children grieving the loss of a friend."

More about Goodbye Daisy:

16-page children's story - beautifully illustrated
Advice on what to do when a child dies in a school community
"Ella's story" - advice from Ella Beard, Daisy's Therapist
"Stephanie's story" - Stephanie Nimmo's perspective
"Daisy's story" - by her Mummy

Stephanie Nimmo's daughter, Daisy, was born with a rare, life-limiting, genetic disease. She had lots of things going on medically but in-between hospital stays, Daisy loved nothing more than going to school and spending time with her friends. Daisy had a learning disability; she used Makaton, a form of sign language, to help her communicate. Despite her minimal verbal skills Daisy understood everything, she knew exactly what was going on!

Sadly, when Daisy was only ten her beloved Daddy died of cancer. Her teachers made a special book for us to read to her, helping Daisy to articulate her feelings about losing her Daddy. At the time Stephanie found that there were very few books that she could use which were aimed at helping Daisy communicate her feelings around her grief and loss.

A year later Daisy succumbed to sepsis and she joined her Daddy in the stars. Daisy had been the life and soul of her school and the staff and children were devastated. Stephanie recalls visiting her friend whose daughter attended the school. She was really aware when she entered their home that the little girl was trying to make sense of it all - Stephanie was in the house, but where was Daisy? She, like Daisy, understood a lot of what was happening but she did not have the words to talk about how she felt.

As Stephanie spoke to the teachers and therapists who had worked with Daisy and her friends at school several things struck her; statistically children in special schools are more likely to lose a classmate than a child in a mainstream school; death and grief are not curriculum subjects; very few resources exist to help children, especially non-verbal or learning-disabled children understand and communicate their feelings around death and dying.

Goodbye Daisy is written in Daisy's honour to help others at an incredibly difficult time.

About the Author

Stephanie Nimmo is a writer, journalist, campaigner and blogger. Steph was born in Wales but has lived in London since 1990. For over a decade, her blog Was this in the Plan? has shone a light on the world ofdisability, palliative care and end of life planning as she openly shares the details of her life caring for a life limited child, her husband's diagnosis with terminal cancer and the death of both her husband and daughter just 13 months apart. Her book Was this in the Plan? was published by Hashtag Press last year, it's a memoir about living and dying well. Steph has written for the BMJ, Marie Claire, The Guardian, The Pool, The Independent and Mumsnet and works closely with the Palliative Care team at Great Ormond Street to train medical professionals.