Who's going to pick my nose? Jackie and Owens Story part 2

You may remember the story of Jackie, a Rooftop tenant from Wychavon who has sadly been diagnosed with terminal cancer and is a single parent to Owen, her profoundly disabled son?

Jackie’s dream was to have a story book that would explain to Owen that his mum wouldn’t always be with him, but there would be other people in his life to love and support him. Jackie’s dream has come true with the help of Rooftop.

A picture book, “Who’s Going to Pick My Nose?”, has been written by Rooftop's Sarah Tempest with Jackie’s inspiration, and beautifully illustrated by Vanessa Bizzell. A Just Giving Page, supported by friends of Jackie’s and many kind strangers, has raised enough money for the book to be published. So now all that’s needed is a distributor so that the book can be bought and any proceeds can be used to help fund Owen’s future care needs.

We’ve been in touch with WH Smith, Waterstones and wholesale distributors so we’re awaiting the results of that. The money raised in the Just Giving account has been enough to print 1200 copies of the book. If it can be successfully sold through a retailer, more might be printed.

The story in the book is written in rhyme and has a child asking who is going to help him with a particular task when his mum is not there.

Each request is based on something Owen needs help with, for example, meals, bath time, story time, dressing up and picking his nose, which really has to be done and inspired the book’s title. Though it was written with Owen in mind, it could assist any child that suffers the loss of a parent.

Jackie is delighted and overwhelmed with the result of the project. She’s shown the book to Owen but is delaying reading it to him until her condition deteriorates. She’s incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved and very grateful to everyone who has helped make her dream a reality.

Thankfully, Jackie is doing OK at the moment and we really hope that she has as long as possible to enjoy more time with Owen, her friends and her family.