15/02/2026
Scarlett AVM warrior story in the The Mirror đ
When Laura Stockleyâs mobile rang in the supermarket on a Friday afternoon, she assumed it was the call every parent half expects. đ±
Her daughter Scarlett had been at her gymnastics class, so Laura thought she might have fallen and broken a bone.
âWhen they told me she was having a seizure. I just went into a state of panic,â said Laura, 41. đ
Laura abandoned the shopping trolley and headed straight for the car.
By the time Laura arrived, Scarlett was unresponsive.
The ambulance crew suspected a serious brain injury and they rushed her to their local hospital in Hastings.
Scarlett was a normal, healthy nine-year-old girl, so the family were floored when scans revealed a massive brain bleed caused by a previously undetected arteriovenous malformation, known as an AVM.
âItâs basically a tangulation of blood vessels in your brain, which youâre born with. You donât know you have one until itâs too late. We could all have one. Itâs like a ticking time bomb,â says Laura. đ§
Scarlett was rushed to Kingâs College Hospital in London and within hours, surgeons told her parents they had to operate to save Scarlettâs life.
âThey told me if they didnât do the surgery, she wouldnât make it through the nightâ, Laura says.
Scarlett went into theatre at 10pm, was out by 3am.
Less than 48 hours later, she began seizing again as swelling caused dangerous pressure in her brain.
She underwent a craniotomy and spent more than two weeks in intensive care.
âAfter she came round, they were weaning her off her drugs just to see if she even recognised us,â Laura said.
âThey didnât know how brain damaged she was. We were just holding our breath. At first youâre begging âplease survive thisâ. Then youâre pleading âplease donât be brain deadâ. Then youâre thinking âshe canât be in a wheelchair for the rest of her lifeâ.â
Scarlett had effectively suffered a stroke. She couldnât talk, walk or eat. She had to relearn basic skills through rehabilitation on the ward.
Doctors later confirmed she had been left with left-sided hemiplegia and hemiplegic cerebral palsy, which means her left arm will only ever be a supporting arm.
âBut, Scarlett being Scarlett, sheâs determined to prove them wrong,â Laura said. Laura spent months in hospital with Lee looking after Grace at home. Five months after the initial bleed, Scarlett was discharged, but her surgical wound wouldnât heal.
On Scarlettâs 10th birthday, Laura and her husband Lee returned to Kingâs College Hospital. âThe screw was physically coming out of her head,â Laura said. Scarlett had developed a severe skull infection and surgeons removed a section of bone, leaving Scarlett without part of her skull for more than three months.
âYou could physically see her head pulsating all the time. She had to wear a white helmet, as if she was to fall or knock it, there was no protection there. She hated that!â
Scarlett has now had nine surgeries. Sheâs had plates fitted, skin grafts and has spent long periods on antibiotics, and there are likely to be more operations ahead.
Laura said: âBelieve it or not, sheâs the strongest sheâs ever been. Sheâs such a positive force. Anywhere she goes, she just lights up the room. In hospital they said, she is a perfect patient. She never complained. She just got on with it.â
But her physiotherapy is expensive. Laura has totted up the cost to be ÂŁ16,000 a year, which the family have paid for through crowdfunding.
Through Kingâs College Hospital, Laura learned about NeuroKinex, a specialist centre in Crawley for people with neurological injuries, and the family now makes a three-hour round trip twice a week from Hastings.
Laura has given up her job at her parentsâ pub to take care of Scarlett and Lee, a self-employed carpenter, has had to keep the household going.
âIt felt like we became single parents,â Laura said. âGrace still needed looking after. And I literally did not leave Scarlettâs side.â
Scarlett missed the final term of Year 4, all of Year 5, and most of Year 6.
She has only recently returned to school for three hours a day.
While still in hospital, Scarlett was offered help from childrenâs charity Rays of Sunshine, which grants the wishes of seriously ill children. â€ïž
They secured Scarlett an invite to the film premier of Wicked in November 2025.
Laura and Scarlett were in tears when they received the call back in October and they attended with Grace and her Grandmother Maureen.
âSheâll remember it for the rest of her life, and we still talk about it all the time,â Laura said.
Now, nearly two years on, specialist therapy has made a difference.
Laura said: âTheyâve said she wonât make a full recovery. But I canât help thinking she will. Iâve got to think that way. She believes in herself so much. When I look at photos of how she was to how she is now, it just breaks my heart. But sheâs lucky to be with us and we are so lucky to have her."
