71 - Financial support for family with hospitalised son - Feb 2022

We loved this nomination from a member who saw someone who might need our help and took the time and trouble to find out more about this family so that we could offer a little support.

‘A’ is a mum to 3 children under the age of 10. In October her middle child was diagnosed with the very rare condition of aplastic anaemia and they have been in hospital for much of the time ever since. Aplastic anaemia is a serious condition affecting the blood, where the bone marrow and stem cells do not produce enough blood cells.

In mid December mum and son went into isolation in hospital as he was due to have a bone marrow transplant on 22nd December. However, the donor got Covid, so the procedure was cancelled. Her son had had the required chemo for the operation but then caught an infection. After further chemo, he was finally able to have his transplant at the end of December from a back up donor.

They are still in hospital, having spent Christmas, and his 9th birthday there. They were due to come home soon to continue recovery, but that was initially delayed because one of the siblings caught Covid last week and now just today EBV has been detected in his blood so that needs further monitoring.

It has been - and continues to be - such a tough time. A’s husband had to give up his job to be around to look after their other 2 children as they have no family to help.

Financially, without his income they are really struggling, and although they now have a social worker who is helping them look at their benefit options, they have mounting bills.

I had the pleasure of speaking to A last week, Goodness, she sounded so brave with all they are facing. Having been in hospital for so long, whilst she was obviously looking forward to getting home to the rest of the family, they face the anxiety of losing the reassurance of being under the watchful eye of hospital staff and a long period of recovery at home. It must have been such a stressful and anxious time for her husband and other 2 young children having family life so disrupted in this way.

When I spoke to A, the family had just received an unexpectedly large energy bill. We are sending them £500 to put towards that in the hope that it can relieve a little bit of the pressures they are facing.

We really do wish them all the very best, and hope she will update us about her son’s progress.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

39 - Support for victims & survivors of Domestic Abuse - Rehouse to Rehome - February 2021

Image
For our latest donation we are sending £500 to Francine at  Rehouse to Rehome , a Sheffield based charity supporting and empowering victims and survivors of Domestic Abuse. Our £500 will go towards buying a cooker/fridge/ washing machine for a family that Francine is helping to rehome.  Francine tells us that she has seen a significant rise in requests for help since the beginning of the pandemic. Our donation has been very gratefully received and Francine has kindly sent us this powerful message explaining why: Not having essential household goods often becomes a real and practical barrier that prevents a survivor from leaving an abusive relationship. Even when individuals gather up the immense courage it takes to flee an abusive relationship and, if they are lucky enough to be re-housed by the authorities, there is a strong possibility that they will not get the financial support required to furnish that property with even the most basic of household goods which are a necessity in or
Read more

5. Goldigger Trust - helping young people develop positive self esteem - Jan 2020

Image
This week we are pleased to be able to give £250 to Golddigger Trust.   The nomination came from one of our members whose daughter & family have benefitted from Golddigger’s support. Golddigger is a small Sheffield based charity that offers support for young people in developing positive self esteem and well-being, to allow them to feel more secure and aspire to achieve more.  Their name comes from their aim of ‘digging out the gold’  - the worth and true value of the young people they work with, who may be struggling themselves to see their value due to poor self esteem & negative circumstances.   They offer drop in sessions as well as 1:1 counselling, peer mentorship and courses to support young people aged 11-18 years.  At a time when it is very hard to access the Children & Adolescent Mental Health Service due to such high demand, the availability of a service like Golddigger is invaluable and we are genuinely so pleased to be able to send them a donation.   Golddigger
Read more

118 - Helping SWWOP set up a 'flexi-pot' to allow them to support women in emergency situations.

We often say how lucky we are to have among our members people who work & volunteer in some of Sheffield’s extraordinary local organisations and charities.     We always welcome nominations from them - they see so much need on a daily basis, so when they ask for our help we know our contribution will make a difference. On this occasion SWWOP (Sheffield Working Women's Opportunities Project) , an organisation which provides intensive support to vulnerable women involved in street prostitution, asked if we could help them. SWWOP’s primary service is making contact with women involved in street prostitution and being a friendly face to offer non-judgmental and confidential support and information.  They provide street based outreach and drop in sessions, with an aim to improve the women’s health and safety.  https://www.swwop.org SWWOP told us that since the start of the cost-of-living crisis, they have seen the number of women they support involved in sex work almost triple.  Wom
Read more