52 Lives

#136 Charlie and Olivia

Request: An iPad / Sensory Toys / Donations

This week, we’d like to help change the lives of 2 year old twins from Durham called Charlie and Olivia.

Charlie and Olivia were born extremely early, at just over 23 weeks gestation, and are both severely disabled. They had brain haemorrhages, which resulted in fluid on the brain. They have chronic lung disease, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, feeding issues, and varying levels of sight and hearing loss.

After the twins were born, Christina had to leave her job as a home carer to look after her babies. Paul had been working full-time in a factory, but had to take a lot of time off to help look after their other daughter (who was 14 months old when the twins were born) and he sadly lost his job.

Charlie and Olivia require constant care, so both Paul and Christina are now their registered full-time carers. Their days consist of tube feeding their children, taking them to the many hospital appointments they need, doing physio sessions, vision and hearing sessions, changing their oxygen tanks, all while trying to also care for their 3 year old daughter Isabella.

Paul and Christina have been trying to save for various pieces of specialist equipment they need, and so haven’t been able to buy the twins some of the smaller essential things that would
improve their life.

With your help, we would like to do that for them

What We Need

1. An iPad - This would help the twins enormously with the various therapies they do. If you can help with the iPad, please complete the form below. Or if you would like to contribute to the cost of buying one, please visit the Amazon wishlist we set-up and buy a gift card, by clicking 'Buy a Gift' below.

2. Sensory toys - We set-up an Amazon wishlist and asked Christina to fill it with all the things she wishes she could buy for her children. This is mostly sensory toys, but also includes some special things for her older daughter, Isabella. To buy something from the wishlist, please click the link below.

3. Donations - If you would like to make a donation to help the family, please click the donations link below. 100% of your donation will go to helping the family cover some essential expenses, and buying other things they need for the children.

What We Did

Thank you to everyone who bought a gift, made a donation, and/or sent a message! We raised just over £500 and therefore were able to buy Charlie and Olivia the Ipad they desperately needed for their development. They also received lots of sensory toys to aid their daily therapy, and their older sister Isabella also received some special gifts. Thank you so much!