In September 2020, my brother Kieran passed away. It was the end of what had been a lifelong battle for him to be accepted, cared for and safe in a society that can be very unkind to people with learning disabilities. He found all of those things at his various homes across the NEAS network.

The care and support provided over his 16+ years living in Sunderland was always exemplary and met his needs from day one. As a family, we always felt he was safe, his needs were being met and he was receiving the best possible support to enable him to live his life to the fullest.

There's no way we can repay what the entire team did for Kieran, and in turn us, but we can pay tribute.

Every year, in the week surrounding his passing, I will be raising funds for NEAS. For this, the first year, in my online guise of Elle Mentary, I will be taking part in a Twitch stream marathon, playing a variety of games both by myself and with members of my Twitch community. You are more than welcome to join in any community games we play, and are very welcome in the chat room.

Any donations you make will go towards improving the lives of individuals who are autistic. I can tell you exactly what a difference that can make.

Thank you for your time and support, and I'll see you on 4th September on twitch.tv/elle_mentary.