Friday, 27 November 2009

Hi

Hi,
My name is Sue Edwards.
I've created this blog to talk about my work in progress A Boy Called George and of course other children that have suffered birth injury.

George was born 9.2.96 in Guy's hospital London.
You could say he came into the world with a bang. Twenty minutes before he was born the hospital shook, we heard sirens and saw the blue flashing lights for miles around. We found out soon after that Canary Wharf had been blown up by an IRA Bomb. So you may remember that day well.

Not a good start in life! I'm not sure if the hospital had been put on red alert, but the midwife in charge of George's delivery should have sought help sooner. He was clearly in distress but despite my concern for my Daughter, Claire and her unborn child, they refused to take my plea seriously. The outcome was: He has cerebral palsy and is almost profoundly deaf. The hospital lost all trace of birth records (conveniently) which is apparently a done thing when negligence is suspected or implied.

The book that I'm writing will take some of you on a familiar journey. Through initial disbelief, acceptance and very much later the long battle for compensation that never happened. I hope for others, it will be educational and if I can prevent just one family from suffering the same trauma, then my effort will not be wasted.

Please contact me with your stories. I hope you will enjoy reading about George.
Sue
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6 comments:

  1. ldk7 February 2010 at 19:20

    Hi Sue,
    A friend of mine told me about the Harper Collins site and I was checking it out and came across your book. I couldn't stop reading it. It's so well written and you truly capture the voice of a 16 year old girl....there is so much love in your writing. I could feel it. Good luck with your book. Have you tried the traditional way to publication? Query letters to agents and a book proposal? Great book to help is Writer's Market and Jeff Herman's Guide to Publishers, Agents etc. Also, since this is a true story, you might want to think about approaching it as narrative nonfiction which is written in a style like a novel but is based in truth. Very popular now and Publishers find it easier to sell for first time authors...fiction's rough to break in, but you might be able to target a different genre without changing much of anything. A lot of getting published is jumping through hoops - just following all the rules in Writer's Market. Your first chapter jumps right out at you and that is also a big advantage. You sound like an amazing woman...with very lucky children and grandchildren. Good luck with this.

    Lisa
    www.talesfromadogcatcher.blogspot.com

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  2. SueAnn Jackson Land12 March 2010 at 04:50

    So... Ms. Sue, how goes it on the editor's desk? I've been meaning to ask you on Authonomy but it looks like every message is public. My email is sueann.land@sympatico.ca if you want to send a reply more privately. I'm thrilled for you. This reading and backing and reading and listing and reading and... it's exhausting! This is why I'm not an editor!
    :)
    SueAnn

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  3. Birth Injuries16 April 2010 at 06:35

    Hi Lisa
    Thanks for stopping by and thanks also for the lovely comments.
    I'm waiting on the Harper Collins review as we speak, and I agree I may have to base this on a true story, rather than tell it exactly how it is. We shall see what they say.
    Sue

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  4. Birth Injuries16 April 2010 at 06:36

    Sue Ann
    As you can see by the above post, I'm still waiting. I guess this is a busy time of year for publishers, with various book fairs and festivals going on.
    Sue

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  5. Birth Injuries16 April 2010 at 06:48

    I'm not very good at this blogging lark. I was hoping to hear from other parents with kids like George.
    Topics of particular interest are:
    Lost medical records, Difficult births and how this affected your child.

    Legal aid will only pay for causation in the first instance. We have had the wool pulled over our eyes many times. In this day and age, it should be possible to give us an exact cause of brain damage.

    My aunt recently suffered a massive stroke, when they scanned her brain, they told us it wasn't the first one, she'd suffered smaller strokes over the years.

    So why can't they give us an exact diagnosis for our kids?

    I'm passionate about this, but I can't fight it on my own. I need other parents to come forward with their stories.

    Please email me.
    Thank you
    Sue

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  6. Anonymous15 February 2012 at 15:11

    I heard you were looking for me. I'm not there anymore, but don't tell Stevo....it'll spoil his fun and play havoc with his imagination. xxx

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