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dam was born at 32 weeks, and was starved of oxygen at birth. He spent 13 weeks in intensive care, and during the first two years of his life went through lots of surgery and hospital admissions. “When Adam was born we knew he would have some problems; he never learnt to feed from a bottle, never rolled over, and couldn’t sit or control his head. After his birth he was in and out of hospital and he had to be resuscitated several times,” explained his mum, Kerry. Adam has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, chronic lung disease and uncontrolled epilepsy. He has lots of seizures and severe reflux, which means he has to be fed directly into his stomach.
As Adam has grown, his condition has worsened, as his chest and lungs are damaged due to the amount of chest infections he has endured. The family first came to Bluebell Wood when Adam was six, and his little sister, Isla, was a baby. Adam visits Bluebell Wood for respite, often with his parents, Kerry and Karl. Adam enjoys arts and crafts, going in the Jacuzzi, music therapy and trips into the garden. Kerry said: “At first, we didn’t know what to expect. Passing your child over to someone else to care for is daunting at first.
“We’ve been coming to Bluebell Wood now for several years and it really feels like we’re part of the family.”
“We treat our stays like a mini break “Usually I live my life round time; and it means we can do things with what time he has his medicine, Isla that we can’t normally do. or his hospital appointments. For someone else to get his drugs “Now Isla’s at school, she sees that ready, means I can relax and get to other children get to go on days do the nice Mummy bits rather out, to the cinema, or to the beach. than the nursing bits.” “It’s really hard to do those sort of trips out with Adam’s needs - it’s impossible to take a wheelchair onto sand! “We took Isla on a day trip to Cleethorpes recently while Adam was looked after at Bluebell Wood - it rained all day but Isla loved it.” Kerry said she can feel guilty that she doesn’t spend enough time with Isla, but then also feels guilty about being Adam’s nurse, rather than his mum. She said:
“Last night at Bluebell Wood, I just sat and cuddled Adam.
Kerry also finds it really helpful and supportive to speak with other Bluebell Wood families experiencing similar emotions. “You sometimes feel very isolated at home, so meeting other families at the hospice reassures us. Bluebell Wood is a support network; we really feel like we belong. “Thank you so much to all the people who fundraise for Bluebell Wood. Without them it wouldn’t be possible for families like us to have these experiences.”
A sad farewell
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ne of our founding Trustees, Mick Howarth, sadly passed away at the end of January. Mick had been a member of the board since 2002 and brought a wealth of retail experience to his role as a Trustee.
Claire Rintoul and Chair of Trustees, Kath Henderson, attended Mick’s funeral. Claire said: “Mick was an active and passionate member of our board of Trustees. Our thoughts are with his family.” Kath added “Mick was our longest serving Trustee on the Board. He leaves a legacy which will impact upon so many children and families. He became involved with Bluebell Wood when the building of a Children’s Hospice was still a dream. We will all miss him, but his legacy will never be forgotten.”
Introducing our Donation Station We have a new station at our hospice in North Anston where you can drop donations of clothes, books, dvds, cds, toys, games and bric-a-brac. The donation station is open every day from 7am to 6pm. Please make sure everything is bagged up and don’t forget to put your Gift Aid number on the bags. If you aren’t a Gift Aid member, please complete one of the forms available at the donation station.
Snooker loopy We’re incredibly proud to share the news that World Snooker have adopted us as their charity partner for the fourth year running. To date, they’ve potted an amazing quarter of a million pounds for the hospice. This year, World Snooker are giving fans the opportunity to have their picture taken with the Championship Trophy for a donation to Bluebell Wood. This will take place in CueZone in the Winter Gardens in Sheffield on Wednesday 20th and Saturday 23rd April between 12pm and 2:30pm. Don’t forget to bring your camera or mobile phone for this amazing selfie opportunity.
A leap of faith... Taking 2016’s Leap Year literally, Meadowhall Centre Director Darren Pearce and Claire Rintoul, Bluebell Wood Chief Executive, took on an adrenaline-filled “Leap of Faith” together. The pair took to the iconic Meadowhall roofline; completing their descent to raise cash for Bluebell Wood. The ‘Leap of Faith’ was also agreed to mark this year’s February 29th in the Gregorian calendar, as well as a celebration of Bluebell Wood becoming the Centre’s Charity of Year for 2016 and 2017. Watch out for us on the malls every month with plenty of fun activities for all the family. For further details, see our social media pages (details on the back of this newsletter).
Have you made your Will? Throughout May, we are teaming up with local solicitors to give you the opportunity to have your Will written for ÂŁ95 for a single Will and ÂŁ150 for a mirror Will. All solicitors are kindly donating the whole fee you will pay for your Will to the hospice. You may want to write a Will or simply update your existing Will, as it is recommended that you review your Will every five years. The following life events could mean that your Will needs updating: Moving house, getting married/divorced, having a baby/adopting, becoming grandparents, a death in the family. Find out more at www.bluebellwood.org/support-us/fundraise/legacy-donations or call Julie on 01909 508 119.
Could you spare a few hours? Our volunteers are truly amazing. Whether they are bucket collecting, putting up gazebos, speaking at events or steaming clothes in our shops, every single one of them helps us make sure we can carry on the work of the hospice. We’re always looking for more people to help us out. At the moment, we really need volunteers to help with our Meadowhall promotions, at events, in our shops or to join our community support groups. If you think you could help we’d love to welcome you onto our fun and friendly team. Just give our Volunteer Co-ordinator, Terry, a call on 01909 508 116 or email terry.lowell@bluebellwood.org for more information.
Meet Michelle
Michelle recently started volunteering with us. She tells us what motivated her to join our volunteer team.
“One of my family members used Bluebell Wood, and sadly passed away. I wanted to give something back so I looked on the website and saw you could volunteer. As soon as I saw the data admin role it seemed perfect for me as I could fit it round my role as Veterinary Staff Nurse. I really like helping people and I just wanted to say thanks for doing an amazing job.”
Did you know?
If you’ve received this newsletter through the post, you’ll find ten tickets for our Superdraw enclosed. That’s ten chances to win £3,000. Just send the ticket stubs and a cheque for the amount back in the prepaid envelope and you’ll be in with a chance of winning. You’ll also be helping local children like Harry (pictured). £10 could buy plenty of bubbles for our whirlpool, where children can have therapy time with a nurse. If you’d like more tickets, or have picked up this newsletter and would like some draw tickets, please contact Kelly on 01909 517 360. You can also buy tickets online at www.bluebellwood.org
An inspirational mum is taking to the water to raise money in memory of her son, Joe.
Claire Malcolmson and her son Joe, known as the Amazing Mr Joe, were supported for several years by the hospice. Mr Joe was eightyears-old when he passed away in May last year.
every three hours and had sleep apnoea.
Claire will take on a sponsored swim later in the year, when she plans to swim 50 lengths. She had planned to do this just before Mr Mr Joe had an undiagnosed Joe passed away but there was neurological syndrome. He had not time. a range of complex medical conditions; he was blind, never Claire said that doing something slept well, needed medication for Bluebell Wood, where she still receives counselling, helped her to focus on something positive. Claire said: “I have been training and it’s been hard but my Mr Joe was so brave, this is something I need to do in his memory for Bluebell Wood as they have been wonderful throughout.
“The first time we visited Bluebell Wood in December 2008 I was really scared and was so worried it would be just like being in hospital. Joe had already spent so much of his little life in hospital. But from the minute you walk through the doors, you realise it couldn’t be more different; it’s just like being at home.”
or young person. Joe wouldn’t use his hands for any art work but my living room is full of Joe’s gorgeous little feet pictures, from bluebells to frogs.” When Mr Joe passed away, Claire stayed with him in the hospice’s End of Life suite, Forget Me Not. She said: “Staying at Bluebell Wood in their Forget Me Not room gave me precious time to spend with my beautiful boy until his celebration, which meant more than I can say, us both being surrounded by love and care.
“Joe didn’t always understand things, due to having a large bleed on his brain at birth causing neurological problems, but he knew when a voice was angry or happy and loving too and at Bluebell Although Joe couldn’t talk, for such Wood he was always surrounded a little man he had a big shout by lots of love.” when he needed to and he loved very loud music. Joe sometimes let the Play Coordinators at Bluebell Wood paint his feet; at other times he let people know he didn’t want to be touched. Claire added: “They are fantastic at creating wonderful keepsake artwork and fun sensory messy play, adapting things to each child
We’d like to say a huge thank you to Workflow Group, who are the sponsors of this edition of our newsletter. Martin Lenton and Darren Hardisty, Managing Partners at Workflow said: “It is our absolute pleasure to sponsor Bluebell Wood’s newsletter. Having seen the incredible work they do we felt compelled to assist in any way we could. Our whole business is built to provide the highest levels of customer support, so we appreciate the fantastic job the team at Bluebell Wood do, they are inspirational. “We look forward to working with them and would encourage other businesses to get involved as they really make a difference.” If your business would like to work with us, please contact our Corporate Fundraising Manager, Rachael, on 01909 517 367 or email rachael.dawes@bluebellwood.org
Can we email this newsletter to you? We send out a quarterly e-newsletter to our supporters and we’d love to be able to communicate with as many of you as possible in this way. If you’d like to sign up to receive our newsletter by e-mail, go to www.bluebellwood.org/about-bluebell-wood/our-news/signup-to-our-e-newsletter/
Registered charity number: 1076958 Company number: 3809663