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Liv's Blog

Liv's Blog

Liv's blog is a compilation of posts from the GoFundMe site, created initially by Jess Cope - a long time friend and collaborator with Lasse Hoile during their work on projects for composer and musician, Steven Wilson. Many of the posts will contain moving contributions from Lasse, Vitalia and their colleagues including video clips and photography of Liv's brave progess through her treatments and life at home with her parents. We hope you will learn from their experiences and help to spread and gather support for Liv and other children in similar situations.


In hospital again
In hospital again

In hospital again

We really wanted, and were hoping, to do a more upbeat update for a while now - but exhaustion never seems give us a rest.

Last time Liv was in hospital for her checkup the doctors decided not to give Liv her usual shot of EPO (erythropoietin, is a hormone produced by the kidneys that stimulates the bone marrow to produce red blood cells), because her blood numbers looked, sorta OK! Which we didn’t understand because her daily routines became gradually worse, as she normally does when the numbers go down, and no EPO, so her energy hasn’t been where it would normally be and on up. And that means much more energy that we have to put in, and as she doesn’t want to do much - it’s been some pretty hard weeks.

Then Sunday night - a night watch that we have at home, each night, from 10pm - 6am as Liv needs to be monitored all the time during dialysis - her night carer accidentally, somehow, ripped Liv’s dialysis tube out of her stomach!

Obviously these things do happen, and a lot with kids (they say here) but also just the last damn thing we needed. So we had to rush to hospital and make sure there was no infection happening, and this morning Liv went into surgery to get a new tube inserted. And she got a shot of EPO (and morphine, fentanyl and others for pain management).

We are still in hospital, and Liv is on a mild easy dialysis for the night, we hope to be able to go home again tomorrow. Luckily everything went very fast and very well and Liv is doing better, as much as she can, under the circumstances.

It’s our little summer vaycay, away from home for a couple of days which we haven’t been since coming home from Hospice in the winter.

On a more upbeat note - the incredible new space for Liv is almost and completely done, we only need a few touches, and we can’t wait to do a proper update with pictures and videos to show how amazing it is for her - and us too. We are so happy and so grateful for all the amazing and heartwarming help all of you have given us. That is something that will always stay with us and knowing that it got us through a damed hard period in our lives.

Love from us all

A little update from here
A little update from here

A little update from here

We don’t often talk about what it’s like for us - being parents in the middle of all this. Most of our updates are about Liv, and rightly so. But the truth is, these past four years have taken an enormous toll.

It’s hard to find the words when your batteries are completely flat, when there’s never time to recharge, and when you’re constantly stretched thin just trying to hold everything together. You go through every emotion in a single day - joy, frustration, love, fear, exhaustion - and then wake up the next day to do it all again.

Yesterday was one of those days where it all hit extra hard. Liv was smiling - she was happy and shining like she so often is. And I felt completely broken (which happens a lot now). I was overwhelmed with sadness, frustration, guilt… even anger. Angry at how we always have to fight for every bit of help from the council. Angry at the way stress creeps into our relationship and causes silly arguments that wouldn’t exist under normal circumstances, although arguments do happen even in normal circumstances (but not like this), but let’s say, they are extremely elevated here. And then there’s the guilt. The feeling that I’m not doing enough, not being the parent I want to be. Not being the partner I should be for Vitalia. Words cannot describe or mend enough right now. There’s so much to say, yet never time or the energy to write it down.

And yet, through all this, Liv keeps smiling. She’s the one going through unimaginable pain and change - and still, she’s the one carrying light and joy. That contrast is hard to bear sometimes.

We’ve been running on empty for far too long. We’ve taken on so much to make life better for Liv, and hopefully for us too - but doing it mostly alone stretches everything out, and leaves very little room to breathe. That’s why we haven’t been able to update as often, or get back to messages, or even just talk with friends and family. Most of our days are spent with doctors, nurses, therapists, and officials etc. - and most importantly- training Liv as much as possible every single day of the week without interruptions while trying to do domestic things as well. What used to be simple hassle free is now a mountain to climb, it certainly does feel that way sometimes, more than less. We really miss life - seeing friends and family, going out, doing art, see life from a café, go to a restaurant…you get the point - for 4 years it haven’t been possible at all, for me (not withstanding 2 years of bloody Coronavirus circus). We miss it more than you know. I’m sure only people who has or going through similar, knows just how it is.

I wish I had some proper words of wisdom but I don’t right now.
We are getting a blog done for Liv with the help and initiative from Chris Elliott⭐️, which we hope to use as new platform for everything Liv and us, but we also haven’t had the energy to write the last things yet (sorry Chris❤️ but soon) and through there - we hope to share much more, and maybe help others going through similar and we also hope, we could maybe help back through there and dish out a little more wisdom and insight how it really is to have your world turn upside down in such a way.

Still, we hold on to hope, although it does take a dive now and then as well as we believe things will get better - we simply must, and believe this. And we are endlessly thankful for the incredible support we’ve received. We truly wouldn’t have made it this far without you.

From the bottom of our hearts -
thank you again ❤️

Love, L