Aspens Bravery - Help us, Help him.

Hi, My name is Jade and I'm fundraising for my Son, Aspen Cocks, to help put money towards further laser skin surgeries and treatment and to try and spoil him with gifts for his room, play equipment ect, Whatever I can think of to put a smile on his face which is so rare now after we suffered a traumatic accident

I'll start from the beginning.

I am a mother of four beautiful children, My oldest is Aspen (4yo) Kalila (3yo) Nevaeh (1yo) and Elodie (5mths)

When Elodie was born, we all started adjusting to having a newborn in the house again and breastfeeding on demand was really taking a toll on me whilst also caring for 3 other toddlers (I was used to being tired so didnt think anything different would happen)

When she hit 5wks old, she started cluster feeding more often and then got a cold, she was totally blocked up and struggling to feed for multiple days and therefore grew tired and agitated, and resulted in me being overwhelmingly exhausted. (Dad works so couldn't help with the feeding as much)

By the end of the week, I asked him to take her to the hospital and just check her over to make sure she was ok and if they could help her at all, so dad picked her up at 3.30 on the 8th July 2021 and went to flinders hospital.

I laid the two older toddlers down with a bottle each on the couch with blankets and a movie and the 1yo in her portacot in the lounge, thinking they were all going to take a nap as it was well overdue and they seemed tired, I went and put a movie on in my room and without even realizing (until I woke!) I fell asleep! It all just caught up with me and I dont even remember my eyes closing!

I then woke to my fire alarm going and Aspen my 4yo screaming, I ran Into the lounge and the Portacot was on fire. I panicked as I couldn't see Nevaeh straight away and then saw her in a small gap about a 2 feet in the back of the cot that wasnt lit yet and I ripped her out!

I dragged the melting cot outside, burning my hands and dropping small parts of blanket still on fire, to the back door and threw it on the back porch, then ran and grabbed the hose and put it all out, I ran back inside and stomped out the remaining fire Inside barefoot, I just wanted to smash that fire out before it hurt my kids, not realizing yet in the panic and adrenaline, that it already had burnt them. (This was all in a matter of MINUTES)

I rang for an ambulance and put my two toddlers in a cold shower, waiting for them to arrive, my sons arm was horrific and his screams will forever haunt me.

We got to hospital and after another 20m cold shower that they asked me to step out from as he was begging me to help him (I cried hysterically in the hallway feeling helpless and like I failed them)

They then sedated him so he wasn't in pain and took him to theater to have his arm cleaned and wrapped and Nevaeh was cleaned in the emergency room and bandaged also.

I sat there all night, staring at them when they were brought into the room, terrified of sleeping and wracked with guilt for letting my exhaustion overwhelm me, I had nightmares of "what if's" and was absolutely falling apart, watching them go to theater for multiple skin grafts, crying in pain, fighting infections, refusing food, hating medication and me having to help the nurse at times hold them so they would take it, I felt like they had to have hated me. Aspen and Nevaeh would wake crying for hours, inconsolably, he couldn't scratch because his hands were in casts as well as his whole arm, Nevaeh couldn't talk about any of it so was suffering major PTSD and having panic attacks.

We spent 4wks in Hospital all together until discharged with weekly clinic visits to now manage and reduce his scars.

When Aspen was calm enough, I asked him what had happened to start the fire.

He said that Kalila (3yo) and him had opened the baby gate (he figured out how to a few weeks before) they pulled the chair up to the bench and took the oven lighter off the microwave, he said they then started a 'small fire' on Nevaehs bed and tried to blow it out (like you would a candle) and then it went into a 'big fire'.

Aspen said " I climbed In to save Nevaeh and the bed broke and I just fell in the big fire"

And when I found the fire, the base board was snapped in half and the blankets and netting was in a pile on the floor, but nevaeh was still trapped by the other side, so Aspen had climbed in to save his sister and his weight, broke the bed, causing it to fall and him Into the fire, which I believe, pulled the fire back a bit and brought her a couple of minutes for me to run in and get her out and ultimately saved her life.

He is Nevaehs hero AND mine and I am so proud of his strength and bravery. I am so THANKFUL to be blessed with them on this journey of healing rather then grieving for them, and thank whoever looked over us that night, that my children are still with me.

All I want to do now, 4mths on from the fire, is to take some of their emotional pain away and bring back thier glow, take them places that get them excited, change their rooms around, paint theme walls, get them awesome play equipment and shade sails to protect them so they can play at home.

I have started some of this journey myself, by cleaning all the smoke residue, replacing the flooring with a different color, new clothes, new mattresses, new bed for Nevaeh so she never has to feel trapped in a cot again, but am still facing so many more challenges to change our home so they dont relive it constantly, until we hopefully get a new home or I change it drastically enough that it feels different.

I'm working towards buying ALOT of paint to do the roofs and hallway as there is so much residue that I just couldn't get off the roof with a mop, and have had no help from my housing agency.

So any contribution, no matter how small, is greatly appreciated and we are so thankful for anything that is given to our family and our home.

Much love,

Jade, Aspen,Nevaeh,Kalila and Elodie