All children should be able to lead a life without limits and we wont let COVID-19 stop them.

Please help Richard House to continue to be there for the most vulnerable children and families in our community.

2020 will be a year that goes down in history; as a year when a pandemic changed the way we live our lives. A year when Richard House Children's Hospice should have been celebrating 20 years of caring for life-limited children and supporting their families. Instead, we have had to make changes and adapt quickly to an unprecedented pandemic, making sure we are and can always be a beacon of light for the seriously ill children and their families in our care.

For the last six months we have all lived a limited life - unable to spend time with loved ones or leave the house for the activities that bring us joy. We have often felt isolated and alone and that our day-to-day lives and opportunities have been severely limited.

For Richard House families, the monotony and stresses of lock down has been no different to the challenges of life every day before COVID-19. One day this isolation will be over for us, but without Richard House, it will not be over for these families.

Over the past 20 years, Richard House has helped hundreds of children look past their conditions, offering them the opportunity to live a life with no limits. Children like Hope, who has been coming to Richard House since 2014. Hope is an active and happy seven-year-old who loves going to school, spending time with her friends and going on holiday to the coast.

The pandemic has taken away these joys and social opportunities for Hope and her family, and it isnt possible for her to visit Richard House in the ways she is used to. Hopes family worry about her risk of serious complications if she were to catch COVID-19, as well as their ability to stay with her if she fell sick, and finding a local hospital with bed-space which could handle her complex medical needs. Beyond this immediate danger, they also fear for her mental health; as a sunny and affectionate child Hope has struggled to understand why she isn't allowed to hug her friends, family and teachers as she normally would.

On-site or through outreach care, Richard House offers a safe haven through which families can feel supported and seek respite, now and in the coming months.

Hopes Grandfather and primary care-giver, John, told us:

Richard House has stayed open due to the incredible support we have received over the past five months, and we thank all who helped us reach this point. Despite all of this, the next eight months will be our toughest yet as we anticipate a shortfall of income of £300,000. A shortfall that means more families will continue to live limited lives.

Please donate to our Urgent Appeal - help us to ensure that seriously ill children like Hope can live a life with no limits.

Our wonderful Patrons, Jim Carter and Imelda Staunton, bring the urgency of this funding need to life in our Appeal video below - please share this among your networks to help us spread the word and ensure our doors can remain open throughout 2020 and beyond.