As some of my friends will know, in November 2015 I lost my beautiful nephew Harrison. At only 2 years old he was the most sweet, caring, loving little boy and his sudden passing broke my family.

Hearing the doctors tell my little sister that there was nothing else that could be done to save him is something I will never ever forget. At only 22 years old her whole world was ending.

Days passed and it dawned on us all that we would be soon saying goodbye, but how? How do you walk out of a hospital room and know you wont ever see your precious baby again? Those blue eyes and soft cheeks. I‘ve always known im a strong person but this was something that was beyond me, something nightmares are made of. How could I help my baby sister?

The hospital told us about Martin House Hospice. Not just a place where people go to die but a place for terminally ill children to come and give their parents/ carers a bit of a break from their sometimes difficult reality. Harrison could go there and this would be his final resting place, somewhere we could all say goodbye propely and in private. when these things happen at hospitals you only get a small amount of time after the person has died, and as horrible as it sounds the body is taken away quickly.

Not something that any parent or person wants to have to face. At Martin House however, you are given time with your loved ones even afterwards, lovely rooms for family members to stay over, and a real home from home feeling. But more importanly time you need to say goodbye properly (If thats even possible).

This isnt the only heartache we have suffered as a family, back in 1999 my cousin Dylan fell over whilst at nursery and banged his head. Sadly he passed away a day later in hospital at the same age as harrison, just 2 years old. My auntie Janice, his mum passed away 6 years later at only 31 years old with no real illness, she stopped breathing one night and was put onto a life support machine, she later passed away in hospital. She was my best friend and at 15 I was devastated, I believe she died of a broken heart.

I have witnessed first hand how the death of a child has affected two of the most important people in my life and have also seen how the Martin house charity helped my sister massively, in more ways than I could ever say. It was near christmas when we were there and they did little things like make baubles with his picture in, take his hand and footprints to match his brother jacksons and gave us so many keepsakes that we would of never had at the hospital.

Enough of the sad stuff now (phew) for sometime I have wanted to raise some money for Martin House and when I became a mum myself I knew this was something I had to do! I have regsitered as a volunteer with them I would be forever grateful if any of my family and friends would be able to donate to my fund however little.

Lets help bereaved parents and those with children who have ilnesses as much as possible.

Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to read my story. xxx