Dear Friends,

As you read on you'll discover our particular story but this page is now about more than Tomek's memory and our opportunity to thank the wonderful people at Forget Me Not for what they did for us. The Forget Me Not Children's Hospice supports more than 50 children and their families through their hospice at home service and at their new state of the art hospice, Russell House, in Huddersfield.

When a child has a life limiting condition they still need and want the same as every child, the chance to play, to communicate, to experience new things, to learn, to love and to laugh. Forget Me Not exists to do everything possible to make children happier and more fulfilled while they are with the hospice, however long or short that may be. Despite the common perception, a children's hospice is about enjoying life.

With over 700 children and families who could benefit from hospice care in the area Forget Me Not can always be doing more which is why the numerous fundraising activities including last year's 'Tour to France', are so important. It costs £2.5m every year to run the hospice with less than 4% of that coming from statutory sources, so the hospice relies on fundraising support, especially such inspiring challenges like last year;s bike ride.

Through the donations on this page and comments associated with them you'll see a number of actvities which have taken place to raise money, and we're immensely grateful to all those who've given their time and energy for the cause.

Finally, on a more personal note Marie and I would like to thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers since we lost our son, Tomek – they have made what is a difficult time more bearable and have reminded us what great friends and colleagues we have around us. As you’ll know by now we welcomed our gorgeous baby boy, Tomasz (Tomek) Jan Laskowski, into the world just before 11pm on Sunday 5 February, weighing in at a healthy 7lbs 7oz. It quickly became clear though that all was not well with Tomek and it looked highly likely he would not survive the birth. Miraculously, however, he did so and subsequently the three of us were supported superbly through his first 48 hours by the outstanding midwife and paediatric teams at Halifax Hospital.

On Tuesday evening when it was apparent that Tomek was not going to get better we agreed with the medical teams to take him off his support to allow him to spend whatever precious time he had remaining with his mummy and daddy. At that point we expected minutes and maybe a few hours with our son and so had a lovely evening with lots of cuddles and photographs in the hospital. Not for the first time Tomek astounded us with his courage and it was clear the following morning that he felt there was more he wanted to do before leaving us.

It was at that time that we were introduced to the unbelievable people at the Forget Me Not Trust who very quickly made it possible to bring him home with us – something we had only dreamed about up until that point. They took care of everything - from making sure that he could still take his medication at home to the logistics of actually getting us there - things we would have thought would just happen but in fact without them would not. They were then on call 24 hours a day and absolutely nothing was too much trouble.

The next two days were wonderful for the three of us. On the Friday morning, peacefully and quietly, Tomek left us, but left behind some beautiful memories which we’ll cherish forever. 

Once again thanks to the many who have offered heartfelt support and to all of you who have taken the time to hear our story for the first time through this page. All we would simply ask that whenever we do see you that you’re as happy as we are to talk about our son. Our choice of a charity to support in his memory was of course a simple one. What Forget Me Not did for us is just a small part of what they do for countless others, yet even that made such a huge difference at a most difficult time.

Finally, our thanks of course also extend to the many of you who have sponsored any one of these great friends and please be reassured that, having now been privileged to see and understand the wider work that Forget Me Not do, you are supporting some truly wonderful people doing remarkable work.

Lots of love, Marie, Marek and Jacek. x.

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