LOREDANA'S STORY |
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Loredana used to be a Honeypot child. From the age of 6, and in very tough living
conditions, she was solely responsible for looking after her mother who has polio,
as well as her younger brother. Now 18, she shares how Honeypot’s services have changed
her life:
Honeypot gives children who care, like me, who never even have time to think, the chance
to find themselves, be a kid and have fun. It made such a difference to the time my
brother and I spent with my
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Mum. Whilst helping her out we could share with her some of our memories and have a few laughs. It drew
us all closer, and by the time the next Honeypot trip came around my Mum was as excited as
we were because she knew we loved it. It was always one of our happiest times.
I am 18 now and I have never come across another place like Honeypot. I have never seen so
many dedicated people work so hard to just make children like me happy; it’s such a special
place. I work full time now while I’m studying for my cabin crew qualification and in May,
just after my 19th birthday, I will be applying to Virgin Airlines for a job. I currently
work with the Bubble Theatre company in my spare time as my dream is to appear on the
West End stage. When I’m rich and famous, I won’t forget Honeypot!
I know I'm going to be supporting Honeypot forever, because it's true, you do only have
one childhood and there's only one chance to make the memories of that childhood the best.
Honeypot gives children the hope and the will to keep on going. If it wasn't for this
charity, I wouldn't be the person I am today; happy, confident and proud of who I am, my
life and where I come from.
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Of the 175,000 known about only 30,000 (17%) get support from specialised Young Carers projects |
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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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