We couldn’t be without our ‘home from home’ (From Worcester News)

We couldn’t be without our ‘home from home’

5:30pm Monday 15th March 2010 in

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LITTLE Gashow Abdallah’s smile shows that she is full of life. And the youngster is quick to smile – within minutes of meeting me, she is beaming up at me from the safety of mum Wendy Herron’s arms.

Apparently, the day we meet, she’s feeling a bit sensitive so has wanted lots of hugs from her mum.

But one of the Acorns Children’s Hospice staff who arrives to greet the five-year-old says: “Don’t worry, you can give us cuddles too.”

It’s obvious that hugs and kisses are as much a part of the job for staff at the children’s hospice as the drug charts and hi-tech equipment that invariably travel with most of the youngsters.

Making the children and their families feel welcome is one of the hospice’s main aims and, according to Gashow’s mum, they succeed.

Mrs Herron said: “This place is a home from home. I couldn’t be without it. Gashow loves coming here, absolutely loves it.”

She admits, though, that she was horrified when it was first suggested that she use a hospice. Mrs Herron, like many others, disliked the idea – believing hospices were sad places.

She said: “I was a bit scared because they said she could come here and I said, ‘No, if my daughter’s going to die, she’s going to die at home’.

“Before I came here I thought it was a place for dying children. But when I did come, it was like a home from home – a home for Gashow. They do so much for her here.”

Gashow suffers from a very rare brain malformation known as bilateral frontal polymicrogyria syndrome and also has epilepsy.

Her condition means the folds of her brain have not developed properly, so she cannot walk, talk or eat very much. She needs 24-hour care, which is becoming increasingly hard as she gets older and bigger.

Her family do not know how long she will be with them, as doctors cannot predict her life expectancy.

Mrs Herron said: “When she gets ill, I get really worried. If I had a lifespan, we could build ourselves up for that but because we haven’t got one, it makes life very hard. We have to take every minute and enjoy every minute with her.”

The family started using the hospice in Bath Road, Worcester, four years ago and it’s obvious why they need the break.

Mrs Herron said: “She’s a 24-hour job. You have to do everything for her.

“She doesn’t sleep through the night and wakes up five or six times. Often she’s sick in the night, so we have to bath her and change her bedding.

“When she comes here, it gives me a chance to recharge my batteries. She comes once a month but if there’s any problems or someone’s ill, they’ll have her straight away. They never say no.

“If you’re upset about anything, they send someone to your house to talk to you and they are always at the end of the phone. It’s fabulous, I wouldn’t be without them.”