Caitlin’s story
Caitlin was born extremely prematurely and spent the first 4.5 months of her life in neonatal intensive care. She had an unimaginably rough time in NICU and was discharged with multiple serious life-limiting conditions. As of her 1st birthday, she’d had 7 operations and had spent more of her life in hospital than out.
In January 2024 she had a respiratory arrest, and has been in hospital ever since.
During these months, we - Caitlin’s parents - relied on friends and family for practical support. Having a child with a life-limiting condition is hard; physically, emotionally, financially, and we want to do what we can to make it slightly easier for other parents.
What we do
We truly understand the mental drain of parenting a chronically sick child, so we’ve designed our service to be as simple to use as possible.
When a child is in hospital
- Providing children’s wards with emergency overnight bags for parents, and period bags for mums
- Donations to hospital Play Therapists
- Vouchers for parents to have some leisure time away from the hospital
- Spa boxes for parents who need some down time but aren’t able to leave the hospital
- A ‘shop & drop’ service for parents in crisis & unable to leave their child to go to a supermarket
When a child is at home
- Tickets for family days out
Referral form
Professionals can refer families for support using our referral form (below)
Professionals can also order toiletry bags, period kits, spa boxes and promotional resources from the Team Caitlin shop
20240911 Team Caitlin referral form v1 printer friendly (docx)
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Charity number 1204631
Ongoing family difficulties
Caitlin spent less than 5 weeks of 2024 at home, and we are adjusting to an increase in her fragility.
Team Caitlin requests, orders, and responses will be delayed.
Thank you for your patience.