Aiming Higher YOU CAN DONATE TO AIMING HIGHER USING THE FOLLOWING METHODS:
WEBSITE | www.aiminghighercharity.org.uk/donate JUST GIVING | www.justgiving/aiminghigher/donate/ PAYPAL | Found on Aiming Higher website or call to make donations by phone POST | Aiming Higher, 231 – 233 Church Street, Blackpool, Lancashire FY1 3PB. To see more of what we do please visit our website www.aiminghighercharity.org.uk or follow us on facebook @aiminghighercharity. Please ring us on 01253 206447 for further information.
FROM TODDLER TO STARTING SCHOOL - how Aiming Higher’s Pre-School Activities helped us
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lanna was born very premature and spent 132 days in hospital. She has several health conditions some from birth and others have developed over the years. Alanna was oxygen dependant and on an apnea monitor for severe BPD (a form of chronic lung disease) and had two types of holes in her heart when she first visited Aiming Higher. The holes have since corrected and Alanna only requires oxygen now when sleeping. She also has general and focal epilepsy, joint hyper mobility, delayed development, sensitive hearing, sensory issues, sleep issues and autistic traits.
PICTURED ABOVE: Alanna at her first Aiming Higher visit back in 2017
In November 2017, 13 month old Alanna and her mum Helen walked through the doors of Aiming Higher for the first time. The council’s Portage team used the Aiming Higher Centre for some of their group sessions and they had come to attend one of these, unaware of the Charity or the support it offered to families just like theirs in Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre. 50
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
Mum Helen said that the time she had been told the portage session would start was an hour out but that she was greeted with a warm welcome from the Aiming Higher team when they arrived and never looked back: “The Aiming Higher team opened the door with ‘come on in, it’s not time for the portage session yet, but we’re doing this, come and have a look, meet some parents’ and we went to the sensory wall and other families came to say hello and meet Alanna and I just thought how have I never heard of this place? When it quietened down Lisa came over and said this is a timetable of activities, you can come and join in at any time and there’s different parents here for you to get to know at different sessions. I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of the charity.” Helen says that working with Aiming Higher and accessing the peer support that she got through attending the preschool sessions has really helped her self-confidence. “I feel a lot more confident. Because prior to accessing Aiming Higher, my daughter was poorly, and while she did get respite care elsewhere it wasn’t like Aiming Higher where there was always someone on the team or another parent to www.lancmag.com
