Sponsor a Family Support Worker for Sick Children

My children and I have been through a lot in the last few years. My son Harley had open heart surgery when he was two years old. A year later my husband died and soon after, my daughter Lia was diagnosed with liver cancer. Rainbow Trust was there when I needed them, to help me get through.

Lia spent six months in Bristol waiting for a transplant, over an hour’s drive from home. Rainbow Trust paired me with a Family Support Worker called Sarah, who could see that I needed some one-to-one time with Harley. He’d missed having his mum around and needed to know he wasn’t being ignored while all eyes were focussed on Lia and her treatment.

I also needed Sarah’s emotional support. Life without Rainbow Trust would have been difficult and very lonely. So many people in my life disappeared when my husband died and when Lia was diagnosed. They didn’t know what to say or how to help, so they just faded away.

Lia and Harley absolutely love Sarah. Sarah takes them for days out and does drawing and colouring with them at home while I get the important housework done. Also having another adult in their life that they can rely on and talk to is so important now that it’s just the three of us.

I’m a very independent woman, I don’t very often ask for help. I didn’t want somebody doing the things I felt I should be doing as a mum, but as I got to know Sarah, it became easy to trust and rely on someone else.

I wouldn’t want to be without Rainbow Trust if I had to go through this again. Please consider supporting this appeal to provide a Family Support Worker to more families in need. If you have already donated to Global Giving, thank you on behalf of my family and all the 2,300 families in England who have been helped this year.