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Clare's_50_challenges
Fundraising for Naomi House Children’s Hospice (Wessex Children's Hospice Trust)
Story
Hi,
As some of you are aware I will be celebrating a BIG birthday next year. My aim to celebrate this special occasion is to challenge myself to participate in 50 things next year to raise money for Naomi House – a charity that I hold dear to my heart and with your support I can achieve this. Naomi House is the most wonderful palliative care centre for children.
Good friends of ours, Jo and James Trafford, were supported by Naomi House and its services when their little boy, Wills of 10 months, died in 2007. Now 7 years later they are sadly requiring the support of Naomi House for their baby daughter Bethany (Nessy) who is 12 weeks old and very poorly.
As close friends of my family, Jo and James and their 2 year old daughter, Katy, are full of courage and determination to give Bethany the best care and love they can. Naomi House provides holistic care and supports the whole family – parents, grandparents and siblings.
The 50 challenges will be things like coffee mornings, sponsored walks, canoeing , babysitting and in particular there will be one main event, a Summer Ball in 2015. Your participation is key to my success – no contribution is too small. If you have any other challenge ideas I would love to hear them – but I can tell you now, John Matthews (King of challenges!) there will be no skydiving or bungie-jumping!
I will keep you all up to date on my challenges and if you would like to get involved or suggest a challenge then just drop me a call or email. If you would like to make a donation you can donate via JustTextGiving by texting 'CMCH50 £5' to 70070 or go to www.justgiving.com/Clares50
The 3 most important things that sustain me through life are the ‘3 fs!’ – family, friends and my faith.
Love to you all
Clare Xx
Jo and James' Story
Dear All,
What an amazing thing you are going to do Clare and for such an inspiring charity. Thank you so much. I thought that it might be useful if I were to tell everyone the kind of support that we were and continue to be given at such difficult times.
Will was referred to Naomi House in Winchester when he was 6 months old. We knew that he had a brain abnormality and was having near constant seizures which were difficult to control by the specialists in Oxford. Both James and I thought that going into a children's hospice would be a sad, depressing place but how wrong we were. The home was filled with laughter from children, their families and the staff. We immediately felt relaxed and we were encouraged to use the home in whatever way we needed to. We spent hours in the Jacuzzi with Will just floating around. We think that the water and quiet helped the agitation in his head and he would just fall asleep. He had music lessons with the music teacher and enjoyed playing in the ball pool. The sensory room was also a firm favourite for all of us. The gardens are lovely and we would spend time listening to the water running and smelling the roses.
But that was all for Will. James and I stayed in the family quarters and would walk down to the local pub together, have a meal and quite a few drinks and be able to talk about the difficult decisions we were having to make. More importantly we could just spend a few nights together to recharge our batteries. We would stagger back to Will knowing that he had been well cared for and we were never judged for having one drink too many!
Will died at Naomi House in the middle of the night snuggled into James’s armpit. This was his usual sleeping position for some reason! We stayed with him for the next 6 days in their butterfly suite which is a chilled bedroom with separate living quarters. We didn't have to leave him at all. We were able to continue to play him music and talk to him. This was probably the most important thing for us as he didn't have to go to a mortuary. Friends and family were able to come and say goodbye to him. We had spent time with the family support team and chaplain thinking about his funeral so already had it planned with Will. This meant that it was exactly as we wanted it to be and we had had time to really think about it. The whole experience at Naomi House made the worst experience in our life quite a bit easier.
They hold a remembering day every year which is so well thought out and allows us one day to just think about Will and all that he brought us.
Now we find that we are needing their services again. Bethany, (Or Nessie as she is know because Katy, her sister can’t say Bethany) has the same condition that Will had. We have already been to Naomi House with Nessie and Katy so that Katy can get used to this new environment. They have given us ways to help talk to Katy about what is happening and going to happen to Nessie. We never imagined that we would be in this position again but we know that with the same support from the staff at Naomi House it will be made that much more positive.
It is for all of these reasons that we are so pleased that Clare is doing this for Naomi House. James and I hope that this at least gives you some idea about where your money is being spent.
Love Jo, James, Katy, Nessie and Will
Since starting this year of challenges I sadly update this page with news of the death of Jo and James little baby girl Bethany. Nessie died peacefully cuddled between her parents on 13 February . May she rest in peace.
I am more determined to raise money and awareness for Naomi House and ask you all to continue with your kind support.
Clare x