‘It’s a decision no mother should have to make - but I knew it was time to let my daughter die’
So Best Interests, while a difficult watch at times, has captured the reality of life for families like mine so well. The way we adapt to a new normal - learning, as I did, the skills needed to keep our children safe and out of hospital. The way medical language trips off our tongues with ease as we begin to navigate a complex system in order to advocate for and support our child.
There’s one scene in the first episode which particularly resonated. Nicci comes home after spending the night at her daughter’s bedside on the intensive care ward. “I’m not stopping, I’ve just come back for a change of knickers,” she says to her older daughter, Kate, as she frantically rushes around the kitchen. The camera rests on the girl, who is left standing there, cereal bowl in hand, reeling.
For me that was an incredibly powerful moment. There were so many times that I was so preoccupied with caring for Daisy that my ability to spend time with my other children was limited. I was pulled in multiple directions and while I know that in many ways it’s given them resilience, it was never the childhood that I’d imagined for them.
As the drama makes all too clear, everything seemed to be a battle merely to get the care and equipment my daughter needed or even just to join the dots between the various professionals involved in her care. I hated that this took me away from just being mum. “All of my children have one shot at childhood,” I told our social worker once, “and however long or short that childhood is, I don’t want to look back and regret time not spent with them as I was busy fighting for the support that Daisy needs.”
Source: The Telegraph
