"Laser Centre of the South West - Frenchay Hospital"

My daughter has been receiving regular treatment here since she was 6 months old for a very prominent port wine stain that covers half of her face. The treatment she has received has been amazing and a credit to the hospital.

From Sue Large who has the difficult job of organising the lists and does so with great skill and even greater compassion to Dr Kay Thomas who is a hero in our house.

It is a difficult decision to make to decide whether you should put your tiny child through a general anaesthetic and potential complications for something that is theoretically cosmetic. The team here made us feel that we were doing exactly the right thing and have made an environment where my daughter feels safe and actually looks forward to attending.

She should receive treatment every 3 months but now the funding has been cut so she will only be seen every 6 months. The treatment is working, her birthmark has faded and is now at the stage where it is not the first thing you notice about her.

She starts school next September and it saddens me that she won't have received the optimum amount of treatment to make her transition to school as easy as possible. The formative years at school is where confidence can be made or broken so why has the funding for such an important procedure been cut?

The Laser Team are an absolute credit to Frenchay and I strongly believe they should be given the funding to carry on doing the amazing work they do.