A lifeline for Amelia

Amelia Goff is just seven-months-old and suffers from severe brachycephaly - also known as flat-head syndrome.

The condition can be very expensive to treat but the family from Meldrum Drive in Gainsborough are very grateful to have received a huge helping hand from the Tree of Hope children’s charity.

“Amelia is a very happy and clever little girl who’s developing well,” said mother Elise Edwards. “But I suspected that something wasn’t right as soon as she was born.”

“From her birth, we were always told that she would grow out of it. It started to look better but when she got to about six-months-old we got a second opinion from a specialist who diagnosed her as brachycephaliac.”

She continued: “It basically means that the back of the head is wider than it is deep. The side-effects are purely visual, but if left untreated then it can lead to problems with eye and jaw alignment and lead to other social problems like bullying due to her appearance when she goes to school.”

The treatment for this is not available through the NHS so can only be done privately - with treatment alone costing nearly £2,000.