East Anglian Children's Hospices (EACH) charity has teamed up with families using its services to start a campaign about what life is really like using a children's hospice.

The campaign, called "I wish you knew...", aims to provide a "full, accurate and honest" picture of the EACH hospices, a spokesperson for EACH said.

The hospice life campaign asked families of children in EACH hospices to complete the sentence, "I wish you knew..."

The replies range from powerful responses on grieving for a child, to shining a light on the help that EACH do.

Some of the responses include:

I wish you knew that a children's hospice isn't a place to be scared of, but a haven of peace. 

 

I wish you knew that time does not heal grief for a child.

 

I wish you knew that without the respite EACH offered, I don't like to think where we would be.

 

I wish you knew that they can support you at home and the support doesn't stop when you lose your child. They're there for as long as you need.

 

Lois Livoti, EACH's Senior Digital Communications Coordinator said: "This is a new, exciting and important campaign. 

"Its overall aim is to give our care service and families a greater voice, by highlighting the things they wished people knew about the realities of having a child requiring hospice care and the support they need and receive.

“Every person experiences something different and it’s impossible to capture in one specific public message what our care means to families.

“Instead, we’ve created this concept to showcase many different messages and help get across a full, accurate and honest picture of the services we provide.

“It was a way for each person to be completely honest, saying exactly what they wish the public knew, or what they’d like to share, and their responses relate to all aspects of family life."

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