Family get smart for tragic mum

SMARTIE party . . . (back, from left) Lisa's sister Ally Ziemniak, Lisa's son Zac, Lisa's father Robert Parkisson, Annie Jones (niece) and mother Judith Smith. Front: nieces Heidi, Tilly and Jessie

3 More Image(s) In Gallery

A CAMPAIGNING family are hoping an inventive chocolate-themed appeal will help them raise funds in their fight for answers into the tragic death of a new mum.

Lisa Parkisson died on June 23, 2014 ­­- two days after giving birth to her son Zac via Caesarian section at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Her family have spent the past two years campaigning for information about why the 35-year-old died.

They vowed to carry on their search for information after rejecting a Corner's Court conclusion in May which stated Lisa died from natural causes - specifically sudden adult death syndrome (SADS).

The inquest also heard that while the hospital was found to have shown shortcomings in the way it observed and documented Lisa's condition, this did not amount to neglect.

They now need to raise £15,000 to pay for medical experts to look at Lisa's case again and hopefully help them gain the answers to the questions they were left with following the inquest conclusion.

Ally Ziemniak, Lisa's sister, said: "After going through an inquest you hope to find some form of closure but we have not experienced that.

"We cannot accept the conclusion from the inquest as we have experienced so many errors, inconsistencies and issues throughout the past two years.

"But we now need to raise money to ensure we can carry on our search for answers, for the family and for Zac, and to make sure the people responsible are held to account so that something like this does not happen again."

The inquest conclusion came just a month before Lisa's son Zac, who is now two years old, was diagnosed with autism.

Ally, who has looked after Zac with her husband Aaron since Lisa's death, said: "It has given us another obstacle to overcome but we are learning more about it and getting the best help for Zac.

"In himself, Zac is a very happy little thing and he is always laughing.

"He is our little ray of sunshine."

To help raise money towards the family's legal and medical expert fees, Ally, a mother-of-five, has created "Lisa and Zac's Smarties Party".

The campaign asks people to fill empty Smarties tubes with 20p coins and send them back to the family to be in with a chance of winning one of two £500 cash prizes.

The family hope that they will receive 500 tubes before the September 9 deadline, and with each tube containing around £12, they could collect £6,000 towards their campaign fund.

Ally (42), from Watersheddings, said: "We feel that we have had enough sadness to last us a lifetime so we want every fundraiser we do to have a bit of fun in it.

"Lisa was such a fun person and we want to reflect that for her and Zac.

"We decided on the Smarties theme because Lisa loved them.

"She used to sneak them to eat at school when she was little but even when she grew up she still loved them.

"Whenever she came to visit she would bring four Freddos for my girls and a tube of Smarties for herself."

The Smarties Party is the first fundraising idea the family have launched, however they are hoping to organise more in the future.

Ally continued: "So far we've been overwhelmed with support.

"Lots of people, some who I don't even know and from all over the country, have got in touch to ask about taking part.

"Businesses have also said they want to get involved and we've been arranging to collect tubes from people locally."

A spokesperson for The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Lisa's death was an unexpected and tragic one. "Following the inquest in May, we said that we fully accepted the Coroner's findings that sadly Lisa had died from natural causes and that while there were some shortcomings in our care, this was not a significant contributory factor to Lisa's death.

"We would like to once again offer our sincere condolences to Lisa's son Zac, and Lisa's family and friends for their tragic loss.

"We are aware that, understandably, this continues to be a difficult time for Lisa's family and we have committed to provide our support to them."

To find out more about how to get involved with the Smartie Party search "The Truth for Zac" on Facebook.