What we do
Events & news
Respite, fun and friendship for children with epilepsy, their brothers and sisters, young carers and parents.
Regular sessions
Every month
Children's Slide & Seek
Slide & Seek, Unit A, SK14 Industrial Park, Broadway, Hyde. SK14 4QF.Monthly sessions at Slide and Seek provide support and friendship for both the children, young carers and parents.
Teenager's Tenpin Bowling
Hollywood Bowl, Ashton Moss Leisure Park, Fold Way, Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester. OL7 0PG.Open to children with epilepsy over 11 years old – respite and fun for the teenagers with epilepsy, siblings and young carers.
Next event: there are no events planned – please check back soon.
Slide and Seek
What parents say about our sessions
The trustees and families of Hope are truly grateful to the Community Foundation and Royal Bank of Scotland for their grants of £1,000, which gave Hope the funds to start our private monthly sessions for our families at Slide and Seek.
Hope's sessions have helped tremendously, and it's certainly helped me with being a single parent. It gives a chance to speak to other parents who are going through the same thing, then you don't feel so alone. We (my son and I) have made some fantastic friends just by going to the Slide and Seek sessions! My child really enjoys going and he understands his epilepsy a little more.
The kids love going to Hope's Slide and Seek sessions. It's a big play area, which is PRIVATE for us, so it's a lot quieter and suitable for our kids. It's exercise while playing and climbing for kids and it's good for parents too – if we need to talk or ask anything there's always someone you can talk to.
My child thought she was the only one who had it, but Hope has had a real impact on her life and she loves going and seeing her friends that she has made. As parents we don't think we could have coped without “Hope” as it's been a great help to us in so many ways and we have made lots of new friends.
Slide and Seek provides our family with the opportunity to mix with other families who are living and coping with different types of epilepsy. From personal experience these sessions prevent you feeling isolated and alone. Our children think it's great and really enjoy being with siblings who know what they are going through too!
Projects
Making a difference
The HOPE Communication Project
“Hope” working in partnership with Tameside ISCAN Speech Therapists Helen Slater and Gemma Lester.
We started the HOPE Communication Project by offering four informal training sessions for parents. Fuelled by biscuits, we presented sessions on What is Communication?, Total Communication, Visual Support and Social Skills.
The sessions focused on developing parents' understanding of how to support and develop their child's communication throughout the day. The feedback from the sessions was great and we are really pleased everyone took so much from them.
Sensory equipment
Special thanks to the Hilton and MEN Media for our grant for sensory equipment.
The feedback from families is very positive and even the parents have chilled out in our sensory rooms too! Our children love the massage mat, starlight carpet, fibre optic tails and starlight projector light.
Days out
Many thanks to Merlin's Magic Wand, who kindly granted Hope 30 free tickets for a trip to Alton Towers in summer 2011. Hope subsidised this respite trip and funded a further 19 places and the coach to Alton Towers.
All the families who attended had a fabulous time and the team at Alton Towers were just fantastic and could not do enough for our children.
Parents' pamper nights
Hope for Paediatric Epilepsy is extremely grateful to Alan, Barry and Carolyn at Leading Edge, who have offered special offers for our parents' pamper nights.
“This is an evening for the dads too – there's a pool table and a PlayStation 3 on a massive screen!” While the mums are chilling the dads can have a game of pool or just chill out in a luxurious venue!
News
Stories from HOPE
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It's snow bother for Tameside Hospital's epilepsy nurse
When six-year-old Max Wray ran out of tablets for his severe epilepsy during the heavy snow, it was Tameside Hospital's paediatric epilepsy specialist nurse Carolyn Taylor who was quick to the rescue. Thanks to her, Max got his medication delivered to the door and his mum breathed a sigh of relief.
Max's mum Kelly is so impressed with Carolyn's total dedication to her role and her support to families throughout Tameside that she nominated Carolyn for an award. “Carolyn has made such a difference to numerous families, like ours, and to the lives of their children with epilepsy. She is a very special person who goes above and beyond to support people.”
With help from Carolyn, there is now a special parent support group – HOPE – which supports families with children who have epilepsy. Carolyn received two nominations for the annual professional of the year award, run by local organisation ‘Our Kids Eyes’, and was presented with the award by Councillor John Taylor.
“The family support group has gone from strength to strength over the last year. This would not have been possible without the dedication of the committee members of HOPE,” said Carolyn. “Working together with the families will continue to improve awareness of epilepsy within Tameside to allow children and young people better opportunities, in order for them to reach their full potential.”
Along with Kelly, Joanne Smith also nominated Carolyn for the award. “I can't put into words how important Carolyn has been for Chloe and the rest of the family. She is worth her weight in gold.” Joanne added she had initially been nervous about going along to her first HOPE meeting, but in 12 months she and her husband Paul have gone on to become vice chairman and events manager respectively.
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Excellence in Care award, Tameside Hospital
A quarterly staff award scheme that recognises members of staff and volunteers who are committed to delivering the highest possible standards of care and demonstrate exemplary performance and outstanding levels of service delivery – those who have gone ‘above and beyond’ the call of duty in carrying out their role.
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Family Fun Day in memory of Samantha Ahearn
Samantha died on 16th July 2009, aged 19, during an epileptic fit; she had only been diagnosed in December 2008. We have since learnt that Samantha died from a condition known as SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy).
Samantha was a happy and caring person – everyone loved her smile and enthusiasm in life. She had only ever had eight fits in total but was under the impression, as were we all, that it would never kill her. It wasn't until after her death that we heard about SUDEP. All proceeds went to Epilepsy Bereaved.
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Tackling Ben Nevis
Wayne, Sharon, Ian & Josh completed a sponsored walk up Ben Nevis to raise funds for Hope for Paediatric Epilepsy on the 30th July 2011.
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A great big thank you to Luke's friends
Grace, 11, and her big brother Joseph, 14, from Dukinfield, raised £150 to help Luke in his campaign to raise funds for epilepsy seizure bed alarms. It was Jubilee weekend and Grace and Joseph wanted to help Luke, so they set up a stall in front of their house and sold toys, books, Lego and DVDs, and even sold their bikes on eBay so they could get that little bit extra.
Thank you so much to you both for being so kind and helping other children. Love from everyone at Hope.