My speech at the Houses of Parliament (for Together for Short Lives)

I'm so busy at the moment, it's crazy!  Juggling the demands of my day job three days a week with freelance commitments and campaigning on behalf of families like ours.  Families who are caring for the sickest children in the UK and those who are grieving the loss of their child...

It is this work, my campaigning work, which gives me the most pleasure and fulfilment.  It isn't about simply telling our story, it's about working with some of the biggest influencers in the palliative care sector to effect change, to really make a difference.

Tonight I'm in a hotel in Bristol and tomorrow I will join a closed event of academic and medical influencers discussing how we manage end of life care in the UK.  In the evening I will be speaking at a public event looking at what needs to change, how we can do things better.

It's another night away from my children but it's another opportunity to change hearts and minds, to learn from what has gone well, what has not gone well and to continue to move forward in engaging the public in open conversations about how we talk about death and how we care for those who are life limited.

Earlier this week I attended an event at the Palace of Westminster as an ambassador for the children's palliative care charity, Together for Short Lives.


I'm one of the lucky ones.....

"your positivity is infectious" a twitter follower once told me after I had spoken at a book festival.  I know, I am one of those annoyingly glass half full people who really does try and see the positive side of every situation...

picture of steph wearing a green jumper on a beach holding Daisy in her arms. Daisy is three years old and smiling.

I count my blessings....I understand my privilege...

I understand that the experiences and life I was able to give Daisy when she was alive came from this privilege.  I used skills honed in a successful business career to negotiate and navigate complex systems of health and social care so that I could fight to get the best support for my family.  We live in our own home, in a nice London suburb, in easy reach of a centre of excellence in paediatric care and a children's hospice..

Everything was in place so that when Andy died I was supported in caring for Daisy through my grief and when she reached the end of her life we had already had the difficult conversations, I knew what she wanted, I knew that we had given her the best quality of life possible.  After she died I was able to bring her home to rest.  The children and I were supported through our grief and loss and able to adjust to our new life without Daisy.

I had confidence, life-skills and experience on my side and these all ensured the best outcomes for our family, despite the fights and stress.... I was still one of the lucky ones.  When Daisy was alive we were supported, we received respite breaks, some funded support in the home, excellent palliative care...

It was not perfect but it was so much better than many families like ours.

It should not be like this...it should not come down to a postcode lottery.  It should not be about having the skills and confidence to speak out.  Families caring for the most complex children in the UK should be receiving support regardless of where they live or their ability to shout the loudest.  When a child is terminally ill families should be supported in making plans and optimising their child's quality of life.  When the child dies they should be supported through their grief and afterwards.

Families caring for life-limited, complex children need support, they need to be allowed to focus on their child, not the fight.

I had so much in my favour and yet I still had to fight....

Now, after Daisy's death, I spend all my spare time using my privilege to fight for the other families, I don't want excellent palliative care and end of life planning be down to a postcode lottery.

Earlier this year I spoke at an All Party Parliamentary Group on children who need palliative care.  The report of that group is launched tomorrow in the House of Commons and I will speak again, to an assembled group of all party MPs and members of the House of Lords.  Once again I will share our story, I will talk about the constant stress, the unbearable fatigue and the fight that every family caring for a life limited child has to go through, but I will also tell them about the utter joy that Daisy brought to us in her short but important life.

And when I speak, as always, I speak for all of the families like ours, those who are grieving their child, those who continue to fight.  One day, maybe I won't have to speak out, one day families who care for the most complex children will be able to be families and make the most of their precious time together.


You can read about the work Together for Short Lives charity has been doing with the All Party Parliamentary Group here.







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