Maya and Maysa love swimming, but their baby sister Ava has to stay home. Mum Mehreen says: “The girls have asked so many times if Ava can come to the pool with us, but that can’t happen. It would be a wonderful dream for all of us.” Ava has random gene deletion DDX3X, causing global development delay, visual and hearing impairments; she is tube fed and needs oxygen 24/7. Dad Asad says: “The hydrotherapy pool at Martin House will let the girls enjoy swimming with Ava, with all the medical support she needs. It will be an amazing family experience we wouldn’t get anywhere else.”

A family outing to go swimming is impossible for Lyndsey and Kevin and their three children – but that is soon to change thanks to THE BUILD. Identical twins Ruby and Sophia have alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC), a rare genetic condition which means they can stop breathing at any moment – and a normal swimming pool can easily trigger an episode. Lyndsey says: “Water that’s not warm enough, bright lights, the noises – all of these can trigger a respiratory arrest, so we just avoid it. Plus we carry oxygen, so where to put it, how to safely get the girls out of the pool when you’re dripping wet, and they’re all slippery. The idea that we could go swimming with them as a family would be so lovely, because we’ve never been able to do that.”