You may anticipate that giving bearing to 14 accouchement is a arresting achievement. But for 50-year-old Patricia Sparkes, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
As Patricia Sparkes stared acquiescently down at her bairn daughter, Lydia, tears of pride welled in her eyes. Treasuring the moment, she advised every minute detail - her perfect, beefy face, her tiny feel nails. It was one of the happiest moments of her life.
Patricia is no drifter to happiness. As a mother of 14, she can name 13 appropriately blissful times in her life. ‘I adulation accouchement and the absurd activity you get if you accommodated your baby for the aboriginal time,’ she explains. ‘Cradling my youngest adolescent Lydia was no altered to captivation my aboriginal born. Every bearing is as appropriate as the last.’
One of 5 children, Patricia started her ample ancestors at the age of 17. She recalls: ‘I consistently capital accouchement and was captivated if I aboriginal fell pregnant. ‘Everything went smoothly, I begin the accomplished acquaintance magical. I admired activity the baby move central me, alive it was a new life.’
When Andrea, now 32, was born, Patricia begin accepting a first-time mum added difficult than she’d anticipated. ‘Everyone warns you about the hawkeye nights, arrant and round- the-clock feeds,’ she explains. ‘But I didn’t realise how harder it could be until the baby arrived. ‘Babies don’t appear with a chiral cogent you how to accompany them up, like all parents I had to apprentice as I went along.’
But as Andrea grew, things didn’t get any easier. ‘She would scream so abundant she’d accept nosebleeds and would again bang her arch on things,’ Patricia reveals. ‘She wouldn’t attending at me or let me bundle her. It was heartbreaking. ‘Doctors put it down to bad behaviour, but I knew it was added than that.’
Patricia insisted on added analysis and eventually it was accepted that Andrea was autistic. ‘I was abashed and upset, but aswell relieved,’ she says. ‘At atomic now I could apprentice about her action and how to accord with it and move on.’
Soon after, Patricia fell abundant with her additional daughter, Christine, now 28. Looking afterwards two babies came as a surprise. ‘It was so abundant easier additional time around,’ Patricia smiles. ‘It’s still backbreaking and harder plan but I knew what to apprehend – I was added prepared.’
Patricia admired accepting a Mum to her two girls, but if her aboriginal alliance bankrupt down, she began to anticipate her baby-making canicule were over. Then she met her additional bedmate and it wasn’t continued afore they absitively to accept added children.
Nicola, now 25, accustomed next, followed by Holly just a year later. With four adolescent children, Patricia again apparent she was assured twins, Anthony and Liam. Bethany, 20, Miranda, 19, and Dominic, 17 again accustomed in quick succession.
‘The added accouchement I had, the added I wanted,’ Patricia grins. ‘I admired accepting a Mum to all those admirable little people. It’s such a buzz accepting all their altered personalities about the house.’
As Patricia watched her ancestors grow, her son Dominic began to accept fits as a baby. “We apparent Dominic had attack and was aswell autistic,’ Patricia explains. ‘It was a huge blow, but I could cope bigger with it this time, as I had a bigger compassionate of the condition.”
Things became abundant worse if Patricia’s alliance hit the rocks and she was larboard to bulwark for herself and her nine children, while abundant with her 10th child. ‘For a time I acquainted actual apologetic for myself,’ she confesses. ‘I would cry myself to sleep, annoying about how I’d cope on my own. It was a alarming time.’
But the cocky benevolence didn’t endure long. ‘I knew I had to cull myself calm and get on with it. I reminded myself they were my children, my albatross – it was my assignment to assure them.’
Patricia absitively to leave her home in Lancashire and alpha a new activity in Northern Ireland. ‘I had to do it for the children,’ she insists. ‘We weren’t active in a nice area, I got a lot of bribery just because I had so abounding children. ‘People would bark at me in the street, alarm me names – I wasn’t able to accompany them up there.’
Patricia boarded a bear to Ireland with her 10 children. ‘It was a alarming footfall to take,’ she admits. ‘But I had to be able for the children.’
The ancestors anon acclimatized into their new lives and Patricia was active adopting her huge ancestors single-handedly. Her canicule consisted of alteration nappies, authoritative beds, advancing meals, washing, ironing, academy runs and allowance with homework.
‘Despite accepting ten accouchement active about I acquainted lonely,’ Patricia reveals. ‘But I didn’t accept time to even anticipate about romance. ‘I did anguish about the abridgement of a ancestor figure, decidedly for the boys. ‘I’d acquisition myself blame a football about with them while tea was cooking, aggravating to be a Dad for them, too.’
Months later, on a attenuate night out while visiting her mum aback in Lancashire, Patricia met Bernard, 39. ‘I’d had a brace of drinks if I noticed a man above the bar. He was so handsome and our eyes kept meeting,’ Patricia giggles. ‘He came over, we got chatting and just clicked - I acquainted like I’d accepted him my accomplished life.’ ‘I don’t anticipate he believed me at aboriginal if I told him I had 10 accouchement – I anticipate he anticipation I was aggravating to put him off.’
The brace kept in blow and took things boring at first, but the continued ambit accord was harder and anon Patricia and Bernard absitively they capital to be together. Bernard confused to Ireland and they affiliated in 1998.
‘Bernard and the accouchement got on able-bodied beeline away,’ Patricia smiles. ‘I was so happy. Bernard was so supportive, my best acquaintance and to top it all - a abundant Dad too. ‘I was captivated if he appropriate accepting addition baby.”
It wasn’t continued afore Patricia was assured Oliver, now ten. As the ancestors connected to expand, Patricia was cerebration of means to absorb her brood.
‘I’d generally jot belief down for the children, accomplish up characters, again we’d all sit about while I told them a story,’ Patricia says.
One day, as Patricia adapted an egg she came up with the afflatus for her children’s book - Shelltown. ‘I noticed one egg had a appropriate shell, all chapped and wavy,’ she explains. ‘It gave me the abstraction for a appearance - Grandpa Crinkly, the oldest egg in Shelltown. The added characters grew from there.”
Patricia would address bits in the little additional time she had and her account adventure book advantaged Shelltown ‘The Meggabike’, was published.
Since then, Patricia and Bernard accept gone on to accept three added children, William, 8, Beatrice, 7, and Lydia, now 5.
After 14 accustomed births, Patricia insists labour doesn’t get any easier. ‘People say the added accouchement you accept the easier it gets, but that absolutely wasn’t accurate in my case. ‘Every bearing was tough, but wasn’t abundant to put me off accepting more. The accolade at the end is so fantastic.’
Remarkably, Patricia has maintained her graceful UK admeasurement 8 figure, with exercise and a advantageous diet. ‘I anticipate it’s actual important to attending nice and smart,’ she says. ‘I like to accomplish an effort, abrasion nice clothes and feel acceptable about myself. Having a ample ancestors doesn’t beggarly you should let yourself go.’
Patricia’s analytic afterwards herself even bigger afterwards two contempo bloom scares. April 2006 she was rushed to hospital with a doubtable life-threatening pulmonary array and in the aforementioned year she spent Christmas Day in hospital, area a blast aggregation had to animate her afterwards she suffered fits and absent consciousness.
Despite all this, she picks herself up and carries on. ‘I don’t anticipate of myself as a Supermum,’ she explains. ‘Whether you accept one, two or fourteen accouchement we’re all the same. ‘I’ve coped because I’m actual organised and like to anticipate I’m loving, caring and understanding.’
Patricia is aswell aggressive and hopes her Shelltown belief will anon be fabricated into an activated TV series. Her bedmate Bernard gave up his job in Telecommunications and set up a baby Production Company and managed to actuate accompanist Ronan Keating to accompany the assembly aggregation and accommodate the articulation for one of the capital characters (Splat), as able-bodied as address and sing the affair tune for the series. A apparel of the advance appearance 'Splat' was a huge hit if it appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day array in 2007.
She doesn’t aphorism out the abstraction of added accouchement either. ‘It’d be admirable to accept more, but it’s down to my biological clock,’ Patricia says. ‘I’d abhorrence to anticipate my baby-making canicule are over, but you never apperceive what will appear in the future.’ ‘I’m just advantageous to accept been adored with 14 admirable children. I’m actual appreciative of them all.’
The brace accept afresh completed a 28 day bout of the UK to advance an amazing adventitious of a lifetime!!!
The befalling to be the articulation of a animation appearance and allotment in the profits of their new children’s animation!
En avenue they accept been visiting Children’s Hospitals and libraries, to accord copies of Patricia's book, Shelltown the Meggabike (ISBN 0-9551766-0-3), and appearance the action pilot, but a lot of of all they accept put some smiles on some faces of some actual ailing children……
The champ of the cost will accept a two percent allotment in the Royalty Rights of ‘Shelltown’ and the befalling to articulation a character* in the animation. This agency the advantageous almsman will be casting alongside Ronan Keating, Johnny Vegas, Julian Fellowes and Sir Kenneth Branagh.
The antagonism will accession £75,000.00 for charity. This aggregate will be breach appropriately amid UNICEF, The National Autistic Society and the Marie Keating Foundation.
The charities that will be benefiting are abutting to Patricia's affection as two of her accouchement are autistic, and with accouchement accepting the capital focus of her activity UNICEF was an aswell accustomed choice. Finally, as blight took the activity of Ronan’s mother so the foundation he set up in her name was aswell actual fitting.
The arrangement will aswell accession the assembly costs for the Shelltown animation alternation and it will be the FIRST time in the apple that the account of any assembly will accept been aloft in this way.
Contacts:
Mr Bernard Sparkes
UK: +44 289 58 10118
USA: +1 516 874 5209
bernard@shelltown.co.uk
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