A terminally ill schoolgirl left unable to speak or move is hoping to get vital technology which will help her communicate - but her family must find £10,000.

Jessica Greenwood has a complex form of Cerebral Palsy which has left her needing peg fed, on constant oxygen, unable to talk or move her hands, arms and legs. Doctors have told the nineyear-old’s devastated family there is no more help available to her and she is now receiving palliative care.

The James MacFarlane pupil also struggles to swallow meaning that she needs round the clock attention and care, meaning mum Claire, 33 and dad Martin, 34, have to use a suction device to prevent her choking on her own saliva.

Now the Irvine couple, who also have a son Liam, 11, who also suffers from Cerebral Palsy, have launched a fundraising drive to raise £10,000 to allow them to buy state-ofthe-art technology which would allow their daughter to ‘speak’ to them with only the movement of her eyes.

The ‘Eyegazer’ technology is programmed specifically to the individual user and Claire says would improve Jessica’s quality of life for the time she has left.

She told the Times: “Jessica was born with Cerebral Palsy and has been in and out of hospital her whole life.

“In September 2017 her health really deteriorated after she had a full hip replacement operation.

“As a result of those complications she suffered a cardiac arrest and ended up in intensive care for three months and had to be incubated twice because she contracted sepsis. She is also unable to swallow which means we need to use suction and if we don’t use it at the right time, it can be fatal.

“They came to us twice and told us to prepare for the worst, but both times she pulled through, the after the second time she had lost all movement in her limbs. Before that she was able to gesture to let us know what she wanted, but now we are just having to give her choices and try and figure out what she needs with her facial reactions and noises she make and hope that we are getting it right.”

Eyegazer uses a mouse that you control with your eyes, meaning Jessica would look at the screen on an iPad and would be able to convey what she is needing or feeling through the image or word on the screen, which the iPad would then verbalise to her parents. Claire says the technology is vital to enable them to determine when Jessica feels pain, is hungry, or feeling unwell, but it comes with an enormous price tag.

She said: “I hate having to ask for help. It makes me feel ashamed that we can’t provide this for Jess, but it is just so expensive. So that is why I set up the Just Giving page. We can only hope that we can raise enough money in time for her to live the rest o f her life more comfortably.”

If you would like to donate or find out more visit the Jessica’s Listening Facebook page or visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/clairegreenwood