The dad of a seven-year-old girl who passed away has dedicated his life to raising money for the charity that made losing his daughter ‘bearable’.
Ellie Cook was praised by everyone who was fortunate enough to meet her and described by her dad as 'perfect'.
Colin, from Wallasey, told the ECHO: “She was the most lovely little girl you can imagine.
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"I remember waking out of school practically in tears on our first parents evening. At that age you don’t think these things were that big, but to have a teacher make you melt talking about Ellie - she was just a darling.”
Ellie had a ‘passion for life’ and ‘wasn’t scared’ to try anything new. She was a girly girl but loved football and going fishing with her dad. She was a ‘brilliant’ communicator from the second she could string a sentence together.
One Friday after Colin picked Ellie up and took her to his mum’s as he would every Friday, the three were sitting in the living room when Ellie unexpectedly slid down the side of the couch.
Colin said: “I asked her ‘are you alright El?’ but she wasn’t answering. She didn't appear as though she was there, then after around 30 seconds she snapped out of it.”
Knowing something wasn’t right, Colin took Ellie straight to Arrowe Park Hospital where she stayed overnight but unable to identify the problem, she was let go.
The following day, Colin and wife Linda went into Ellie’s room and found the then six-year-old once again unresponsive and immediately rang an ambulance.
Following a number of scans and tests performed at Arrowe Park, doctors discovered a ‘shadow’ on Ellie’s brain which was hidden by a cyst.
She was immediately transferred to Alder Hey where the family were soon told of the severity of Ellie’s condition.
Colin said: “We spent a month in Alder Hey where she had a couple of operations and biopsies to see if there was anything they could do for her, but that’s when they told us the tumour itself was inoperable. "
The family were told from then to ‘enjoy’ their time with Ellie as it was not clear how much they would have left.
Soon after the family were recommended the care of the Claire House Hospice.
Colin said: “At first you’re not sure, it’s something about the word ‘hospice’ which just makes you think of end of life. But from the minute we stepped foot in there it was all laughs and jokes.
“I can’t explain what Claire House is like, but I don’t think we had a single sad time in there with Ellie."
Recalling some of the highlights from Ellie’s time under the care of the Wirral hospice, Colin said his daughter even managed to soften up celebrity chef Marco Pierre White during his visit after asking him why onions make people cry and telling him off for trying to sign one of her drawings.
As time went on, the tumour started to affect Ellie's body more apparently, however Colin said she remained a 'little fighter' until the end.
Colin said: “She used to draw all the time, she loved her art and would always sit on her chair with her little table. She’d get her paper and pad and draw for hours and hours.
“She started to go weak down her right hand side to the point she couldn't grip hold of things.
“Then one day her hand was getting weaker and weaker and her pencil kept slipping through her hand. We could see the frustration in her face but she carried on until eventually the pencil slipped through. She got up off her chair and was quiet for the rest of the day.
“The next morning we went to get her up and she said ‘I want to sit down and draw’, we didn’t know what to do, but she picked up her pen in her left hand and as if overnight she made herself become ambidextrous.
“She wouldn’t let anything beat her. That just sums her up.”
Towards the end of Ellie’s life, Colin said the charity could see it was approaching and ensured her final few weeks were special.
After creating two ‘friendship boxes’ for her best friends while on a family holiday in the Cotswolds, which Ellie had requested, the hospice arranged for a ‘girly pamper party’ with Ellie’s friends.
Colin said: “Claire House held a pamper party for her. They've got a little wendy house so they got her two friends round and had a girly day where she gave them the boxes and it was like the minute she gave them to her friends she knew ‘I’ve done it now, I’m ready’."
Shortly after the pamper day and 18 months after her diagnosis, Ellie fell asleep for the last time lying beside her parents while holding her dad’s hand.
Since that day in September 2011, Colin said Claire House have continued to offer the family ‘incredible support’, which inspired both Colin and Linda to dedicate a lot of their time to raising awareness for the hospice.
As a keen fisher, Colin launched The Claire House Club Challenge fishing contest in 2012 to help raise money and awareness for Claire House.
Since then, the Challenge has grown with 2021 seeing over 100 anglers taking part to raise funds for the children’s hospice.
In October 2021, Ellie would have turned 18-years-old. To mark this, Colin and his family were determined to reach the £100,000 fundraising total - and they done exactly that.
Hoping to continue with the growth of the popular annual match, Colin invites more teams from across the region to get involved and help raise awareness for Claire House.
