AMY'S STORY |
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I have been looking after my mum since I was 4 1/2 and I am now 11. I have been going to Honeypot for 3 years and I love it, it gives me a break and a chance to play and do things my mum can’t do with me.
I get a chance to be with my friends and do all the activities I enjoy like swimming, and going to the farm because I love animals and I also enjoy basketball and making new friends.
The thing I like the most is not having to do adult stuff,
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and just being able to be a child.
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The 2001 Census estimates that there are 175,000 Young Carers in the UK. However it is widely believed that the actual number is much higher |
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My mum fell ill suddenly when I was 4 1/2; she had a bad fit which caused a stroke. She was in intensive care for 4 months and I thought she was going to die. I was scared because we don’t have any family, so we are on our own. I had to stay with friends and I was scared that my mum wouldn’t be coming home. Since she came out of hospital she has up to 30 seizures a day and has had 3 more strokes since. She is always in and out of hospital. When mum is very bad she doesn’t know what is going on around her and she needs help with most things; she has a left sided weakness and she is left handed so finds it hard doing a lot.
I have to help her shower and wash her hair and get dressed and she sometimes needs help feeding herself. I also have to make sure she has her tablets. I have to do housework like the washing and cooking as mum isn’t allowed to cook or shower on her own in case she has a seizure.
Mum can’t go out much because she is nearly always having seizures or sleeping them off. If mum has a seizure outside she always ends up hurting herself because she falls a lot so if we go out she nearly always ends up in hospital. So we’d rather stay in where she’s safe.
I love my mum more than anything, but it is scary and I never know if I’m going to come home from school and find her on the floor.
Thanks to Honeypot I get to have a holiday and a break, I don’t know what I would do without it.
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