Lavey family praise LauraLynn supports

A Lavey family will be among those to benefit from a special challenge this month.

LauraLynn, Ireland’s only Children’s Hospice, is calling on people across Cavan to join them for their 150K in February walking challenge to help support families like the Smiths who are living with childhood cancer.

The hospice currently provides care and support to more than 460 children and families nationwide including the Smiths from Lavey.

Jake Smith is an eight-year-old boy who was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), a form of brain cancer, just two weeks after he was born. His mother explained that, until he turned two years, Jake was too sick for them to avail of the hospice services. Since then however, the Smith family have stayed at the hospice multiple times.

“We were able to avail of the hospice days, which was absolutely amazing. There’s no right word to describe how absolutely brilliant their facility is. It is invaluable,” says Andrea.

“There may be times when you may only have eight hours sleep in the space of a week because he was unwell. So, during times like that, when he’s very unwell and unsettled and you just need to go in and just have a break.

"We would go up for respite breaks and the family camps. You come out and you feel like you’ve had a two-week holiday but you might have only had a three-night stay," she explains.

The LauraLynn facilities are free to the families of children who are terminally ill.

“The family and sibling camps, play therapy, arts and crafts, sensory stories for Jake, they’d have music in. You name it, they do it. There’s great facilities outside, there’s a little playground so you can take the kiddies out. It’s a really really invaluable service,” says Andrea.

During the family's stay at the hospice, staff members aim to group children up with other kids of the same age.

“The children can talk to other kids because nobody understands what they go through unless they’ve been through it themselves,” explains Andrea.

Children aren’t the only one’s catered for at LauraLynn, as the parents are treated to massages, restaurants and more.

LauraLynn also offers a babysitting service where families can book in their sick children, allowing them to spend quality time with their other children or attend to other tasks that are difficult to complete while caring for a sick child.

“Because Jake’s illness is so unpredictable, we can’t plan for anything because he would have a low immune system. We can’t take him out to the shops or anywhere that would have a lot of people or big crowds. So when my daughter wanted to go shopping for her communion dress, we booked in to LauraLynn and they looked after Jake... Then you can dedicate your time to the other kids as well because they seem to get a little bit left behind,” outlines mum Andrea.

“Nurses and medical staff are employed, they go home and they can have a break. But for us we're constantly 24/7 carers. We never get a break, we never get time off. The only time we’re not nursing staff, or physiotherapists or speech and language therapists, or a nurse, the only time we just get to sit back and watch a TV show or spend time with our kids is when we actually go up to LauraLynn,” she continues.

While the LauraLynn Foundation receives some State funding, it is largely reliant on fundraisers to provide these services to families.

Speaking about the 150k challenge Cathy White, community fundraising executive at LauraLynn said: “We are calling on the people across Cavan to join thousands of others from all over Ireland who have committed to walking every day while raising vital funds for LauraLynn. It’s a challenge that anyone can do, there’s no time limits and you can clock up your kilometres in a way that works for you.”