Louisa Elaine Brighouse was the beloved daughter of Peter and Roz and the dearest sister of Mark. She was lent to us for 5+3/4 years; the first 4+3/4 as a lively, beautiful, friendly and very intelligent little girl; her emergency operation, to resect a posterior fossa Medulloblastoma brain tumour, saved her life but left her badly disabled, unable to speak and unable to move.

This photo was taken August 1994, Pentire Head, Polzeath, Cornwall, England - Lulu loved the outdoors and here she sits, so pleased with herself having climbed a cliff path to the headland - with 3000 miles of Atlantic Ocean behind her.

Her natural resilience, her strength of mind and determination enabled her to fight and complemented in the best possible way the program of neuro-rehabilitative therapy designed by her wonderful team of support therapists. She was nearly there; she had regained the ability to speak; could sit up by herself and had developed fine motor control of her left hand (although right handed). We felt sure she would have talked properly again and sung her favourite songs to us and given time she would have walked again, but the tumour returned, so quickly and aggressively that even Lulu's battling spirit was not enough to check its' development.

We must remember her as she was in the first 4+3/4 years, a child with a sense of humour beyond her years, whose reading ability had quickly clicked into place (she would read her latest book to us 4 or 5 times in succession to practise for homework), who was so friendly that her best friends Ellie and Leah will treasure her memory for ever.

She had poise and athletic ability, she loved ballet lessons; she would have followed Mark in enjoying music lessons; she loved to draw and paint, especially rainbows. Her favourite occupation was to sit at our large coffee table finishing off a jigsaw whilst starting the next topic, half an eye on the television, more than half an eye on whatever Mark was doing and a small snack to hand. When pestered by her Mum to come to the dining table for her meal, she would retort "Don't talk! Mummy". The first time she saw an uncovered roast chicken freshly brought from the oven she said "That's a tortoise!"

Photo taken August 1995, Cornwall, England - The National Trust valley - Louisa is tickled that Mark and Daddy have joined her on the branch.

She loved it when we did things together as a family, like gardening; she would come and investigate what each of us was doing, help/fiddle/interfere for a while, move on to the next of us and then attempt to try things herself - in this way we found out about Lulu's Green Fingers - 90% of the cuttings she planted have grown and flourished and we have a series of shrubs to remember her by.

Family holidays were a treat for her, either squeezed into our Camper Van or by the beach in Polzeath, Cornwall helping Daddy and Mark to build the largest sand-castle for miles around, then defending it against the rush of the tide.

We had a series of affectionate nicknames for her - Louisa quickly becomes Lulu, then Louisiana Weasel, Squeeziana, Squeezy, Squidge, Squishington, Poolu, although where Googleberry Pie comes from, I'll never know. (The weasel part resulted from her determination to have her own way). She had a delightful lisp, often confusing her b's, d's and v's; when putting her toys away, she would say "This libs here", and in the winter would always want to wear her "glubs".

Anyone geographically conversant will have guessed where we live, so this is to confirm Fallowfield, Manchester, England.

Thank You --Our grateful thanks

Short Stories -- Special Short Stories for Lulu
Reflections -- Please sign Lulu's guest book
E-mail -- Send a messasge to Lulu's Family

Virtual Memorials