Supporting Terminally Ill Children

The Tasgals

Miriam and Jeremy Tasgal from Barnet have two children, eight year old Michael and six month old Yehoshua.  Yehoshua was born with severe hypoxia which resulted in brain damage.  Yehoshua now has severe learning difficulties and possible blindness.  Due to his inability to suck and swallow, Yehoshua is fed by a gastronomy tube through his stomach.

Rainbow Trust Family Support Worker Eva has been supporting the Tasgal family for six months, helping with transport to appointments at London’s Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear and Barnet hospitals, and offering emotional support to mother Miriam during home visits.  Eva also spends time with brother Michael, playing and doing arts and crafts.

Talking about the support Rainbow Trust has offered, Miriam says:  “When you have a sick child suddenly everyone has ideas about things you can do that might help.  Everyone has an opinion.  Everyone is an expert.  And sometimes you don’t want people to talk at you, you want people to listen.  Eva is really good at that.  It’s been wonderful to meet someone who is allowing us to go on this journey, wherever it ends, and giving us the support we need to get through it.  Going through what we’ve been through, you quickly learn to really appreciate people like that in your life; they are few and far between.

“We live in a very close-knit Jewish community, which sometimes can be wary of accepting outside help and look to wider friends and family for support.  We’re relatively new to this community and we haven’t got family near by.  Eva is very sensitive to our beliefs, and we’re very comfortable around each other now.  On her first appointment with us she offered to sit with Yehoshua during a hospital visit so we could return home to observe Sabbath.  Eva understands that our faith is incredibly important to us and a great support at times like this.”