News for May 20th, 2009

Family who lost daughter to SJS releases songs for charity

The family of a 19-year-old girl who died last March from complications of Stevens Johnson Syndrome () is releasing recordings of songs she performed to help raise money for the critical care unit at Nottingham City Hospital in England, according to This is Derbyshire.

Amy Lightfoot, was diagnosed with in January and spent several weeks in the critical are unit at Nottingham City Hospital until her death last March. is a rare but life-threatening condition in which a rash forms on top layer of skin, blisters over and peels away. Blisters can also form on the eyes, throat, mouth and internal organs. is a severe adverse reaction to medication, such as ibuprofen, and anti-seizure medication.

The recordings will be sold along with a CD by the band No Eyed Deer, of which Amy and her boyfriend Lee Brown were members. Amy’s parents say selling the music to raise money for the hospital is a perfect way to give back to the hospital that cared for her.

“The staff who treated Amy at the hospital were just fantastic, but being there for so long makes you realize the cost of the equipment they are using – a ventilator alone costs about 30,000 pounds,” Amy’s mother Carol said.

Carol said she was previously unaware of her daughter’s recordings, which are titled Satellite and Waiting. “They were done while she was studying at the Joseph Wright Centre and we thought releasing them would be a nice way of remembering Amy, while raising money at the same time,” she said.