Elliot’s legacy lives on through his Shed: helping children for years to come

DSO has a resources store for local children with Down’s Syndrome.

Elliot's Shed contains free to borrow specialist equipment, crucial in the daily lives of children with Down's Syndrome but which is expensive to buy. You can borrow something to try it out before you spend the money to buy your own. Or you can borrow it and return it when your child doesn't need it anymore. Its aim is to remove yet another piece of paperwork for a family and hopefully to enable our members to access resources. Specialist sensory toys are expensive and not easily accessible to a lot of our families. With Elliot’s Shed, a family can try before they buy or apply.

Examples of equipment in Elliot's Shed are: trikes, Breezi chairs, Tripp Trapp chairs, buggies, sensory play equipment and lots more.

Seth and I had the idea for the Shed in memory of our son Elliot, who had Down’s Syndrome, and who passed away in 2015 following a long battle with leukaemia. Thousands of pounds was raised in Elliot’s memory for some of the charities that he benefited from, including Helen House Children's Hospice, Oxford Children’s Hospital and Clic Sargent, and including almost £10,000 for DSO raised by his friends raised by taking part in the Vision Wild Run.

DSO continues to support Elliot's many friends. It helped Elliot make the most of what he could do – which was everything and anything! – and supported us when we could have felt isolated and alone. Right from birth, Elliot was a calm, smiley and charismatic person. He was a dream baby and despite our worries for his future, he was perfect.

Elliot was diagnosed with leukaemia aged 17 months old.  He cruised through his treatment with strength and determination, and without fear. He never lost his cheekiness and learnt to walk, sign and get into trouble like any other nearly two-year-old. We had a fantastic summer together. After relapsing in September 2014, Elliot passed away in March 2015, aged two and a half. He spent his last few months living life to the full – he felt well most of the time and we made the most of every minute with our happy little boy.

Elliot was inspiring. His extra chromosome was a gift to us and to him, and his legacy continues. We continue to see how many hearts and minds he had touched, and how many attitudes he’d changed.