HOSPICE NEEDS OUR HELP IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES

SHARON and Martin Smith are in no doubt about the value of the city’s Donna Louise children’s hospice.

The couple’s three-year-old son Tommy died at the Royal Stoke University Hospital three years ago after being diagnosed with meningitis.

Shortly after his passing, a nurse at the hospital told them about The Donna Louise. “We were taken to the Garden Suite where there was a little bed made up, I tucked Tommy in,” says Sharon in today’s Sentinel.

“We were given a bedroom where we could stay.

“It gave us the chance to say our goodbyes, a place where all the family could come and be together. It helped us with our grieving because we had that time to spend with him.

“The staff were brilliant, the could not do enough for us.”

And there in just a few short sentences is just one reason why The Donna Louise is such a valued institution in our city. Its support of families at the time it is needed most is truly second to none.

But there is much more to the Trentham Lakes hospice than that. As anyone who read the series of features in these pages to mark its One in a Million campaign this year will know, it isn’t just for ‘poorly children’ – The Donna Louise cares for whole families through events such as pamper days and Sibling Saturdays.

It is, as it proudly declares on its website: “Belly laughs and best friends, it’s light in the darkest hour, it’s glitter and sparkle, Xbox and drums, it’s real understanding.”

So, to see The Donna Louise having to make staff redundant and, today, appealing for support is, to put it mildly, disconcerting.

It seems it has been hit by greater demands on its services from families affected by Government cuts and a drop in donations from the public and businesses.

In typically resilient North Staffordshire style it is meeting the crisis by opening more shops and running its own lottery. But until those funding streams become self-sustaining, the charity is having to ‘significantly reduce costs’.

We make no bones about urging readers to support The Donna Louise in these difficult times. Let’s make sure that glitter and sparkle is there for many more families in need. Let’s keep that light shining in the dark.