''I don't want to give up my business': Great Barr woman's devastation after floods
Leah Courtney makes bereavement bears from a cabin in her garden
A woman has shared her devastation after floods last week have forced her to temporarily stop her business.
Leah Courtney makes bereavement bears for people who have lost loved ones - she has attracted customers from not only all across the West Midlands, but all over the country.
Last week (August 27), as thunderstorms roared over parts of the region, Leah's back garden in Great Barr flooded, destroying her cabin and all of her equipment.
She said it happened incredibly quickly, in less than an hour, and she didn't realise until afterwards that her home insurance didn't cover outbuildings, meaning she's now reliant on donations to get back on her feet.
"I'm amazed with the amount of support I have had, and obviously I don't want to be the sort that has to ask for help," she said.
Support is drowning out the hate
Her family, who have emigrated to Spain, have set up a GoFundMe which has already raised hundreds to help Leah replace her sewing machines and other equipment lost.
However, after posting about her situation on social media, Leah also experienced a barraged of hateful comments.
"A lot of people have been really supportive, which is just amazing," she said.
"But the negativity as well, that's been hard to deal with - people calling me an idiot for not checking that my home insurance covered outbuildings.
"Some of the comments are immense. Some people said I was a scammer and that I've generated the video of the flood water with AI, just to get donations.
"There's been a lot of hate, but then on the flip side, I've got a Facebook group that I advertise in that has set up the one pound challenge - the admin has set it up to ask all of the followers if they could donate a pound to my GoFundMe, because there's 44,000 members in the group and things like that make me, make me cry."
Leah doesn't know how much it will cost to replace everything that was damaged and repair the cabin itself, but is determined to get back to making her bears as soon as possible.
She said it's incredibly moving to have complete strangers offer to help, whether through donations or offering their services to fix the cabin.
"I love being known as the bear lady from Facebook," she said.
"I don't want to give up my business."