Help Our Children's Hospices
I love this country. I love the people. They are creative. They are never better than when making new things happen. It is one of the things the British have in common with the Egyptians. They are both peoples of innovation.
But of all their achievements over the centuries, there is one that of which every British person can be proud: it was this country that pioneered the care of the terminally ill. It is not an exaggeration to say the British invented the hospice.
That model has been copied around the world. And thank goodness for that because the need has never been greater. I know what it is like to lose a child; there is no greater tragedy, but in this country there are around 23,500 families with children who are facing the end of life before it has really begun, children who are not expected to reach adulthood because they have a life-limiting condition.
Most families are not in a position to pay for the round-the-clock care their child will need, and often a parent will have to leave their job to care for their child full-time instead. No-one deserves such terrible sadness and strain. I have supported children’s hospices since the 1960s and have seen how they help children and parents make the most out of the precious time they have together.
Children’s hospices are almost entirely reliant on public generosity to fund their incredible work, and staff at the hospices I support, such as Francis House, CHASE Hospice, Zöe's Place and Shooting Star, often tell me that without my large monthly donations, they would struggle to continue to provide the care they do. Unfortunately the local authorities and the government are not doing enough to care about such human suffering. It disgusts me that the government fails our sick children so badly – particularly one whose own prime minister has experienced the tragedy of losing a terminally ill child. They see fit to sign off more money for their own expenses than to provide care for our terminally ill children. So it is up to us to act.
Throughout 2011, I would like to appeal to you to make a donation to a children's hospice - it will help them continue to do their incredible work and is one of the greatest ways to help terminally ill children. Please encourage your family and friends to do the same. However large or small, it will mean so much to the very, very sick children and their families. The life of a terminally ill child may not be long, but you can help make it be special.
Click on one of the links below to make a donation or to find out how you can support your nearest children's hospice:
Find your nearest children's hospice at the Assocation of Children's Hospices website - childhospice.org.uk
Comment: do you think that the government should support our children's hospices by pledging a decent percent of the hospices' running costs? Tell me what you think: writetome@alfayed.com