As many of you are aware, we lost Our mum Sheelagh Steels in June 2017. As you could imagine this had a massive effect on all the family especally her granchildren my daughter Mia being one of them. Mia and her Nana had a bond so close, Mia took every opportunity to spend time sitting on her nanas lap talking about everything from the days events to what her mummy was like as a child and always looked forward to sharing her everyday experiences. After a courageous fight with cancer Mia was left utterly heartbroken when she lost her Nana at 6 years old. Mia had no idea how cope with this pain and how to understand death and what that meant. I too, dealing with grief myself had little idea of how to help her. With help from mias school they told us about Sue Rider‘s Charlie Chimps to help us through this time. They were amazing Mia benefited from activities to help her accept, digest and come to terms with her feelings, being around other children going through bereavement helps her realise that she was not alone. As a parent it was a struggle to be strong for Mia so when we started Charlie Chimp berevement it gave us the opertunity to go through the grief process together, mia to be able to share her feelings and worries and also myself opportunity to get help and support outside family and frends. They have helped us arrive at the point where we can enjoy my memories and remember and chat about my mum, her nana with a smile.

As last year, Mia and I are raising sponsorship for A good year to Run - In memory of Sheelagh Steels. This charity was started by brother and sister in law to raise money for local services that help and support people through difficult times. Last year their proceeds were donated to the Peterborough Oncology Day Unit. This year the chosen charity is Charlie Chimp Bereavement Services at Thorpe Hall Hospice. We hope that with your kind generosity we can raise a decent amount for the service that helped my daughter smile again.