Emily – in memory

Emily Stockley first came to Playskill when she was one year old. A bright, beautiful little girl who was full of energy. From the start, Emily’s gross-motor skills were very strong and Emily learnt to crawl and stand really well. Andrea, the Director and Paediatric Physiotherapist remembers being surprised by the speed of Emily’s progress as the low muscle tone associated with a diagnosis of Down’s syndrome can often slow the development of gross-motor skills. Not in Emily’s case and as she got older she learnt to run at a real pace.

Emily was one of the first members of the Playskill Hemel afternoon group and we were delighted that she met Matt Baker and the BBC “One Show” team when they visited with the Children in Need Rickshaw in 2014.

It is lovely that after Emily left Playskill to start full time school, her mother Sarah joined us as a volunteer with the Hemel PM group.

Emily passed away on September 2nd, 2019 from complications of Type 1 Diabetes, a condition she had developed approximately 1 week before her death. Emily was nine years old and attended a mainstream primary, where she was thriving and was a very popular member of the school.

Type 1 Diabetes is an auto immune condition, it has nothing to do with diet or exercise and cannot be prevented or cured. There is no test presently to determine who will get it, but recent research has identified that it is 4 x more likely to develop in children with Down’s syndrome.

We are truly glad to have been part of Emily’s short but beautiful life and have very fond memories of her time at Playskill.