Rocco's Story

Rocco Seagrove was a very special little boy and was born on the 22/03/2010. He was born prematurely at around 34 + weeks and he spent most his early years in hospital due to lots of complications regarding his bowel, immune disorder and endocrine issues.

In his short life he spent most of it in and out of hospitals. Rocco had a number of health problems and because of his complex needs, he needed around the clock care. From birth, Rocco was diagnosed with Intestinal Failure which is a very rare type of illness. As a result he was completely nil by mouth and could not eat or drink. Instead he was fed intrave-nously through a catheter directly into his heart with Total Parent Nutrition (TPN).

Unfortunately for Rocco the long-term use of Total Parent Nutrition led to severe complications such as bone disorders, septicaemia and liver disease. Rocco was linked up to several machines 24/7 that pumped his little body with antibiotics to fight his infections and morphine to ease his pain. In addition he had to undergo blood transfusions every 4 -6 weeks.

Rocco suffered from hypo mobility which meant his joints had an unusually large range of movement, causing his knees to dislocate when he walked. Having immunity deficiency meant that in order to avoid infections Rocco could not mix with other children and had to stay indoors. His sibling Olivia who is older than him was the only peer company that Rocco had.

In October 2013 Rocco got listed for a multi visceral organ transplant which included a small bowel, large bowel, pancreas and liver. Rocco received his gift of life on the 02/08/2014 and waited 10 months on the transplant list. His mum will never forget that day and is so grateful to Rocco's donor and the donor family for such a wonderful gift and the best chance of a quality of life.

Very sadly this beautiful lil man lost his battle to multi organ failure and gained his beautiful wings too early and passed away 19/01/2016 aged 5 years old.

We have decided to set up SupportRocco's charity as we know this is Rocco's legacy to help other families and children who currently have intestinal failure and have had or are waiting a bowel and multi visceral transplant.

Sadly Rocco gained his angel wings on Tuesday 19/01/16

He died peacefully at Kings College hospital, London, in his mummy’s arms with daddy and his sister by his side.

Rocco had been given a few possible diagnoses but in the end he died of multi organ failure.

In October 2013 he was placed on the transplant list. He finally received the call on August 2nd 2014 and received a multi visceral transplant; he had a new liver, intestine and pancreas. We are forever grateful to his donor angel and family.

We knew that this was not a cure but that it would give Rocco a better quality of life and gave him some extra time to build memories.

Rocco created many memories over the following months, due to his immunity problem he still could not mix openly with other children; however he did spend a beautiful summer with his cousins in the garden where he had great fun.

The Disney shop closed their shop and allowed him in alone with his family to go shopping which he had never done before. I still remember how excited he was and overwhelmed with all the toys. We came home with 6 huge bags of toys and clothes.

He loved going out in the car with his mummy to collect his sister from school, even though he couldn’t get out of the car he was happy to wave to all the children through the window.

In August 2015 he attended a charity ball organised by ‘Believe in Magic’, where he had the best time ever, he wore his first ever suit, he looked so smart and grown up. This memory will stay with us forever.

We would like to thank all the charities involved with Rocco and all his supporters.

He had a short life but he was always smiling! We will miss you little Roccstar, shine bright love you xxxxxxxxx

Roccos mummy has chosen a number of charities for donations and these can be found on the link set up by the Funeral Directors Dale & Sons which is: Rocco.seagrove.muchloved.com

We have also set up a justgiving page for fundraising to help Luciana and daughter Olivia, such as, funeral related costs/the wake and also to help with household bills etc, which is: https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/Roccoseagrove