For the past 25 years, as the world’s first hospice for children, Helen House has been providing respite, emergency and end of life care to children in Oxfordshire and beyond who have life-shortening conditions, as well as offering support to the whole family for as long as they wish. Since 2004 Douglas House has been doing the same for young adults from the age of 16 to 40. Indeed, you may have seen, earlier this year, the struggles with which our young people and their families have to cope in the BBC Two documentary series, ‘The Children of Helen House’ and the brave and dignified way in which they do so. We hope that our warm, vibrant hospice houses are a place of sanctuary, relaxation and fun, where the emphasis is on living life to the full, even though that life may be short.
Helen House sprang from a friendship between Sister Frances Dominica and the parents of a seriously ill little girl called Helen, who lived at home with her family but required 24-hour care.
It is natural that the parents of a much-loved but very ill child would want to care for them at home but caring for your child every day and night, as well as looking after the rest of your family and earning a living can be exhausting.
On occasions Sister Frances looked after Helen to give her parents a break and her situation highlighted the need for respite care for children with life-shortening conditions and support for the whole family – mum, dad, brother and sister and often grandparents too. Helen House was therefore set up to help families cope by providing occasional respite care modelled on that provided in the family home – personalised, sensitive and dignified.
However, with improvements in medical care, many young people with life-shortening conditions are living longer than they might have done a decade or two ago but if you are 23 neither a children’s hospice nor an adult hospice is really suitable, and so Douglas House was born, opened in 2004 by HM the Queen.
The new building is exciting and vibrant – some of our guests call it a five star hotel! We are able to care for people between 16 and 40 in a place that appeals to them and offers, as far as possible, the independence of being a young adult. Perhaps one of the greatest difficulties that a young adult with a life-shortening condition faces is increasing dependence on their parents and families at a time when they really want to seek and prove their independence as other young people are doing. Young people enjoy staying at Douglas House at different times of the year, sometimes with their family and sometimes without. It has fantastic facilities including a games room, music and arts rooms, a sensory room, Jacuzzi, beauty parlour, cinema and a bar to help our guests to live life to the full.
This year is a really exciting time for the charity as it sees us celebrating our 25th anniversary. If you think you might like to get involved we would love to hear from you. It costs over £4 million a year to run both houses, that’s about £11,000 at day and we need all the help we can get. If you would like to know more about fundraising or volunteering then please call us on 01865 799150 or go to www.helenanddouglas.org.uk.
