Sami Chakarov
Katty quits drinking for a month to raise money for young carers
Fundraising for Centre 33
Story
When I was a kid my mum was diagnosed with a brain tumour that meant she gradually lost the ability to do pretty much everything for herself and became more and more reliant on people caring for her. We had trained carers who looked after her as much as they could but when they weren't there looking after my mum fell to my dad, my sister and myself. It was hard. It's emotionally draining and often physically difficult, and involves doing things you didn't want to or expect to have to do. And it wasn't a choice, there was no way I could have ever not helped my mum when she needed me. She was my mum, I loved her and even when the stress reduced me to tears I still did what I had to do as a carer.
There's so many people like myself and my sister in the world who end up spending the years they should have been able to spend growing up like regular kids having to look after someone with a disability. It can be so lonely. Looking around, you see all these people with healthy families who aren't reliant on them for support and you wonder what it must be like to have that "normal" life. That's why support for young carers is so important. Getting to go to a weekly group where everyone was a carer like me was amazing. We'd hang out, play games, bake cakes, kick footballs around, have a laugh. We even got to go on occasional trips to places like theme parks and never had to pay a penny because it was all funded by the chairty. It was inclusive, it was relaxing, it was a place where we could just do what we wanted to do for a couple of hours a week.
And that's why I want to raise money for Centre 33. I want more young people to have that refuge, that place they can go for support and to get away from things. So I'm going to quit drinking for a whole month in November. It won't be easy - I'm sure you're all aware how attached I am to my rum, and how much I love going out and drinking with friends. But I can and will give it up for a month and if any of this has moved you and/or you just want to watch with amusement as I have to stand around sober at Facebar, please donate and help support people who really need the support.
There's so many people like myself and my sister in the world who end up spending the years they should have been able to spend growing up like regular kids having to look after someone with a disability. It can be so lonely. Looking around, you see all these people with healthy families who aren't reliant on them for support and you wonder what it must be like to have that "normal" life. That's why support for young carers is so important. Getting to go to a weekly group where everyone was a carer like me was amazing. We'd hang out, play games, bake cakes, kick footballs around, have a laugh. We even got to go on occasional trips to places like theme parks and never had to pay a penny because it was all funded by the chairty. It was inclusive, it was relaxing, it was a place where we could just do what we wanted to do for a couple of hours a week.
And that's why I want to raise money for Centre 33. I want more young people to have that refuge, that place they can go for support and to get away from things. So I'm going to quit drinking for a whole month in November. It won't be easy - I'm sure you're all aware how attached I am to my rum, and how much I love going out and drinking with friends. But I can and will give it up for a month and if any of this has moved you and/or you just want to watch with amusement as I have to stand around sober at Facebar, please donate and help support people who really need the support.