A YEAR OF FUNDRAISING TO CELEBRATE MOJO’S TENTH BIRTHDAY
WHY?
Before Mojo was born, while we were still coming to terms with the realisation that our parenting journey wasn’t going to look like we had imagined it would, we were referred to Shooting Star Chase Children’s Hospice. It was the last in a series of referrals each of which had been bleaker than the last. It seemed like there was no hope at all.
The very last thing I wanted to do that day was go and visit a children’s Hospice. Even the concept hurt my heart. A place for children who are dying, surely that must be bathed in sadness and pain right? Will all the children there be days or weeks from death. How am I going to look their parents in the eye? What do you say to people in those circumstances? Am I one of those people now.
What I didn’t expect was the warmth, joy, laughter and life that greeted us on that visit. We met patients in the sensory room enjoying respite days with their families. We saw bedrooms that looked like bedrooms and not hospital rooms, we saw smiles, lots of them. I had all my niche questions answered by a very kind woman who was honest and matter of fact. The one I remember asking was if a lot of children with a pre-natal diagnosis get called Hope as it was the name we were toying with at the time but I couldn’t decide if that was too cliched (for the record it ended up as her middle name). Not a single person was waiting around to die they were all living, living joyfully and actively and having a lovely time doing it.
They showed us the cold room where our baby would go after she died. It was beautiful and unremarkably ordinary all at once. It genuinely made me feel better, I left feeling that even if our immediate future was to be this, it would be okay, we’d be looked after. It was uplifting being there and seeing the children and the staff. My opinion of what a Children’s Hospice was and what they did changed completely on that visit. They were there for us like they are there for hundreds of families everyday.
When we were approaching Mojo’s 10th Birthday it seemed like the perfect time to put some serious effort into giving back and raising money for Together for Short Lives seemed like the perfect way to do that. So we came up with the idea of ten themed challenges to celebrate 10 years of loving Mojo.
WHAT?
Each member of the our family is planning to take on a challenge encompassing everything from 10 x 10kms, cutting 10 inches of hair, 10 lengths of a swimming pool and learning ten Makaton signed songs.
We are opening up an invitation to everyone and anyone to take on their own 10 themed challenge for Together for Short Lives and join Team #Mojo10.
Take a look at our Just Giving page and keep an eye on our socials for updates and links to all Mojo’s signed songs.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mojoatten
