My daughter fell down the stairs when my partner was in hospital and the pressure became overwhelming. I discovered the kindness of relative strangers can make all the difference
Some years ago, my husband and I visited old friends who were preparing to move house. When we were leaving, we told them to let us know if they needed any help. A few weeks later, we were surprised when they called us and asked if we could help on the day of the move. We didn’t mind, but just had not expected our vague offer of help to be taken up. “Shout if you need anything,” is just something you say, isn’t it?
A few years later, in 2016, I went from being a pregnant mother of a toddler to a cancer patient overnight. I did things that seem, looking back, unthinkable, such as undergoing surgery while pregnant and starting chemotherapy when my daughter was one week old and still in intensive care in a hospital 60 miles from home. My husband, son and I had moved from London to Leicestershire a few months before, and we didn’t know many people in our new village. Friends from afar, all with young families of their own, sent flowers, chocolates and books, all of which helped. But what we lacked was on-the-ground support.
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