Drama school raises £150 for Rowans Hospice after the charity looked after a student's dad at home

Four-year-old Seb Healey’s dad Sean was looked after at home by Rowans Hospice before he died in May from bowel and liver cancer.

Little Seb takes musical theatre classes with Tadaa run by Helen Wallis from Bedhampton, and has kept up with classes all throughout lockdown.

When Sean died, Helen decided to donate the £150 proceeds from her regular charity raffle to Rowans Hospice.

Seb said: ‘I'm happy the money will help the kind nurses help other families.’

The charity’s Hospice at Home service supported the Healey family through 42-year-old Sean’s illness, and Seb’s mum Heidi cannot praise them enough for the help provided to Sean, herself and their three children.

The service provides the same care available in the hospice to enable people to stay at home with their families.

Heidi, 42, said: ‘It’s a service that a lot of people don’t know about. We could try and have some sort of family life still continue.

‘They were just amazing, we didn’t meet one person who wasn’t. They were so caring and in such a difficult time they just carried on. I can’t be more grateful for the way they handled everything so respectfully and sensitively, nothing was too much trouble.’

During lockdown, Seb continued with his lessons on Zoom and Sean could watch him perform.

Heidi, from Warsash, added: ‘It’s been really important for a family in that situation to have some consistency. Helen provided that, it was the one thing that was consistent for Seb.

‘The way she’s been with Seb has been really lovely and I’m really thankful for that. Seb absolutely adores her.’

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Helen’s raffle was based around Matilda, which the children had been learning, and she took Seb along to hand over the cheque to the Hospice team.

Helen added: ‘I love raising money for charity anyway because one day I would like to run a charity alongside Tadaa making drama and musical theatre accessible to absolutely everybody regardless of their situation but the Rowans Hospice At Home was particularly poignant because it helped a student of ours.

‘Tadaa is a family and we support our students as much as possible especially if they are having a hard time - and this is just a little way of showing that.’

Following on from this donation, Helen is now hoping Tadaa can work alongside the hospice’s Meerkats service which offers support to children who have experienced a bereavement.

For more information, visit tadaa.info or rowanshospice.co.uk/care

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