Karen and husband Alan care for ten-year-old Angus, who is autistic, and has ADHD and a sensory processing disorder. He’s non-verbal and struggles to sleep, waking any time from 1am.
Karen explains: “We can all be exhausted at times due to lack of sleep. Although Angus is non-verbal, he makes lots of noises and sometimes they’re continuous. “He takes up a lot of our energy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Karen works as a rehabilitation practitioner and Alan manages numerous jobs as well as their campsite round-the-clock.
How Take a Break helped
Karen used their grant for a week-long stay in one of Haggerston Castle’s sensory caravans, with a friend to support her care for Angus. Karen says, “It was amazing, there are loads of activities that he really enjoyed doing. There’s no way I would have been able to afford to do that in July.
“My friend knows Angus so well and she helps with him. She’ll often say to me ‘You stay in bed this morning and I’ll get up with Angus’ or she’ll put him to bed or bath him. She’ll do activities with him through the day . I always come back feeling I’ve been on holiday for a month.”
“Life is busy and when someone tells you about the grant, you think, oh, I’m not going to bother with that. I won’t get it anyway. It’ll take too long, or you even worry that you won’t be able to complete the form.
Just do it and plan something. We get caught up in the day-to-day life of working and caring and being busy giving to other people. It is important to take time for yourself as well.
“I remember what I did every day of that holiday, because it doesn’t happen often in our life, when you can relax and enjoy.
“It’s just great. When I first heard of Take a Break, I didn’t believe that it was even possible, that there would be a fund that would help you to go on holiday or take a break. ”
