THE mum of a boy with severe brain damage has released a "warts and all" book giving an insight into life caring for a seriously ill child.

Nurse Rachel Wright, 39, decided to write down her day-to-day experiences as a way of destressing after son Sam was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and life-limiting epilepsy, both a result of brain damage, when he was just ten-weeks-old.

Now aged ten-years-old, Sam unable to sit, walk or talk and is fed through a tube in his stomach.

He has also been diagnosed blind, and has life threatening seizures which require Rachel and husband Tim, a GP, to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Rachel admits life as she knew it collapsed when Sam was diagnosed, bit she hopes her book will show people it is possible to learn to live a new way.

“I didn’t plan to write a book. I planned to write down my memories. I had conversations in my head that would wake me up and stress me out. I decided to write them down.

“I started blogging, got a really positive response and it went from there.

“The book is very honest and real. It’s definitely a warts and all book. It doesn’t gloss over some of the really tough times but hopefully people will see the good aspects.”

She said the feedback from others mums going through similar experiences has been positive.

She added: "I think it’s quite unique to have written about a child’s life limiting condition to the extent Sam has.”

In the book, called The Skies I'm Under, Rachel praises Little Havens Hospice, in Thundersley, which helps care for Sam.

She said: "I found it hard going to Little Havens, and to this day I still don’t find it easy. But when you find yourself here, the largely unknown work of the palliative care services becomes a life-line for making memories.

“The hospice provides a level of nursing care and respite unavailable to us anywhere else. Because of Sam, we treasure life more because we live knowing that tomorrow might be very different.”

Julia Hodgson, family support and involvement worker at Together for Short Lives, a charity for children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions, said: “There is no right or wrong way to respond to a diagnosis of a life-threatening condition but Rachel’s honesty provides insight to the impact that such a diagnosis has at so many different levels - and the importance of having the right support available, at the right time.”

The Skies I'm Under is available from Waterstones, The Book Inn, Leigh, Amazon and theskiesimunder.co.uk for £6.99.