In 1999, Shooting Star Children’s Hospices launched their Community Nursing team in Surrey – a service dedicated to providing care and support to families in need.
That year, 35 families were supported. Now, 25 years later, they are still providing nursing care at home and in hospital, and their service has grown to include overnight care at their Guildford hospice, Christopher’s; symptom management, and specialist bereavement care for families living across Surrey, south-west London and north-west London.
Over the last year alone Shooting Star have supported 993 families. This Christmas, they are asking you to help them support families in their darkest hours. Families like Claudia’s.
Mum Claudia shares:
“Thomas was our very loved second child. He was very smiley and happy, he completed our family.
“At just 23 months old, a few weeks before Christmas, we were told that Thomas had a life-limiting, genetic condition called Tay-Sachs disease which stops the nerves from working properly. That Christmas was really hard. Not knowing how many more Christmases we had with Thomas was devastating.
“But we somehow got through it, and it was then that Shooting Star got in touch with us. We were invited to spend a weekend at the hospice as a family and it was the most magical place for both Thomas and Estella, Thomas’ big sister.
“Thomas sadly died in September 2023, just before his fifth birthday. We’d taken him to the hospital as he was struggling with his breathing and the community nurses from Shooting Star visited and provided Thomas, and us, with a lot of support and comfort. He was peaceful and that, for us, was very important. We never wanted to see Thomas struggling in any way.
“Thomas was then transferred to Shooting Star’s bereavement suites. They provided us with a space to be with Thomas and to process; they gave us the chance to say goodbye. Estella and Thomas’ younger brother Daniel had the opportunity to see their brother and the support that we got from the whole team was just what we needed in that very dark time.
“Shooting Star helped us make some very special memories. We have beautiful casts of Thomas’ hands and feet; they had so much patience and time for us. We’ve also been to Memory Day and have a leaf with Thomas’ name on it in the memory garden which we can visit whenever we want to. They have been our light in a very, very dark tunnel.”
Please help provide light to families like Thomas’ this Christmas. Find out how at: www.shootingstar.org.uk/christmas.
