Martin House supports children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families, across West, North and East Yorkshire. Our vision is that every child and young person has access to palliative care when and where they need it.

The charity is particularly close to the heart's of my family due to the devastating loss of my baby cousin Emma on Christmas Eve 2012, just 26 days after she was born. That said, every year the hospice cares for and supports 425 children and 118 bereaved families within Yorkshire thanks to the efforts of supporters. My Aunty and Uncle were able to stay with Emma and spend precious time caring for her. The support, kindness and dedication of the team at Martin House was immense. The hospice provided a comfortable, caring, peaceful environment for us all - and continued to provide support after Emma died

Christmas is a time for giving, celebration and for many families across the UK, remembrance. Martin House went above and beyond to support us, despite never expecting to need their help and the House truly is an inspirational place. Given that they are holding a Christmas Jumper day on the 8th of December this year, it seems incredibly fitting for me to raise awareness of their work at this special time.

Ripon Grammar School will be supporting Martin House on this Christmas Jumper day, but I am urging everyone from schools and local businesses to self-employed people and the general public to dust off their Christmas Jumper and raise awareness for this incredible cause.

Any donations would be hugely appreciated by all those associated with Martin House and given that it costs around £9 million a year to run the hospice, it is essential that the future of the charity is sustained. Your donations would not only help support families experiencing devastating circumstances, but it will also be put towards providing opportunities, happiness and enjoyment to the residents within Martin House.

Martin House is an extremely special place, one we never thought we would need. We will always be grateful for what they did for our family - and want to fundraise to ensure other families in our situation are able to access this too. Run entirely from charitable funding, every penny that we can raise will help families going through the most unimaginable suffering to be cared for when they need it most so I hope you will join me in raising money, awareness and remembering Emma this Christmas.