Hello! My name is Kieron, and I am the very proud father of the beautiful Lorelei Eve. She is 3 years old and was born on Christmas Eve 2019. She had her first real challenge in life within minutes of being born, as she was immediately moved to NICU and spent the first 10 days of her life in an incubator, mainly due to breathing issues.

As she has been growing up, we noticed that she was a little slower with things like lifting her head, learning to crawl, and learning to walk, compared to family members around the same age. The main concern, however, was the fact that she was not starting to use words at all.

She is now around 3 1/2 years old and is still completely nonverbal. She has been diagnosed with autism, which comes with a whole load of challenges. Every day is different, with each one bringing new difficulties and surprises in terms of what Lorelei does. She finds it hard to communicate what she wants or needs at any given time, which can be very frustrating for her.

The reason I am starting a fundraiser for her is that she has extreme anxiety about going in the car or into shops/anywhere new. The furthest she will go is just a walk around our small estate. We are currently in the process of receiving support to help her try to overcome these fears, but due to the effects of the pandemic, the waiting list to be seen for this is extremely long. So, I thought if we cannot take her out to nice parks and different places, I would try to bring some of that to her.

We would absolutely love your help in raising funds to create a sensory garden for Lorelei, a place where she can feel safe and enjoy herself without the pressure of loud noises. It would be a place where she can play with sensory toys and water, which are her favourite things. But most importantly, it would be a place where she can be herself without any judgment from the outside world.

I have tried reaching out to various garden centres and other places that I thought might be able to assist us with this, but I have had no luck. With the summer fast approaching, I would love to put something in place to allow her to enjoy the warm weather, which she has previously been unable to do. Lorelei is a very sensory-driven child, and we have purchased different toys over the last few months that are based on lights, textures, and colours, which she has enjoyed playing with. But we are desperate for her to start spending more time outside, and we are hoping that if she has a reason to spend more time in the garden, she may start to build some confidence when it comes to going to other places.

With your help, our dream could become a reality. Any donation, big or small, could make a huge difference.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story.

Kieron x

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.

If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, then the funds will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child’s needs in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objects. If, in those circumstances, we are unable to use all or part of the funds for the benefit of our child in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objectives, then any funds that cannot be used will be transferred to be used for the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope.