Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

We are asking people to donate to the charity Zoe's Place instead of buying us a wedding present. Zoe's Place is a hospice in Middlesborough for children from 0-5 with life limiting diseases.

Logan's friend Harry was born with Downs Syndrome and very nearly did not survive at all. The last 20 months have been a long struggle for Harry and his parents, with Harry starting out having to sleep on a ventilator and have someone monitoring him throughout the night. Zoe's Place has provided respite care for his family which meant they could get a nights sleep every 48 hours and now he is off the ventilator he goes for 2 nights and 1 day a week to give his Mum and Dad a chance to spend some time together and catch up on much needed sleep.

I went to visit Zoe's Place to see where any money donated will be going. There are approximately 9 children to 6 carers and the children vary in the level of disability and medical care needed. Zoe's has a very relaxed, fun atmosphere and comprises of a nursery room where most of the play takes place. There is a sensory room to help babies development and 4 bedrooms with special cots able to relieve pressure and help circulation in children unable to move themselves. There is also a family suite upstairs and a bereavement room as some of the children that Zoe's Place cares for will not make it to 5 years old. 

There is no waiting list for children attending Zoe's Place as Eillen who runs it believes that parents find it hard enough to ask for help so when they do they are likely to not be coping and do not need to be told that help is going to take 6 weeks. They recieve no government funding and do an amazing job helping these children to develop whilst giving their parents an essential life line to sanity.

We are incredibly lucky to have a perfect little boy who does not need to attend Zoe's Place, but not everybody is so lucky and Zoe's is such an important part of enabling families to cope, we really hope you can help.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Thank you in anticipation

Vicky, Andrew and Logan xxx