The pair have supported one another throughout the journey, “We’re very close. I would always talk to him if he was sad or anything. He would come to me when he was sad.”
While her brother’s illness was difficult to deal with, Sophie explains, “It was upsetting, but we mainly laughed about it. They say if you don’t laugh you cry. We normally made jokes to get through it.”
Her brother’s illness naturally had an impact on Sophie and has inspired her to want to become an oncology nurse. When most of the attention was on her brother, Sophie was very understanding saying, “He should have been getting all the attention. … I know the reason why he did, so that’s good.”
A friendly face and someone else to talk to
Through the difficult times, Family Support Worker Sabrina helped Sophie by giving her some much needed respite with days out of the house alone or with her brother, away from hospitals, and someone outside of the family to talk to.
“It’s just nice to see a friendly face. I would talk to my friends about it but if I needed to talk about something else I would talk to Sabrina.”
It’s ok to have fun
By giving siblings the opportunity to relax and talk about the aspects of life that they are not coping with or do not understand can help to rebuild their confidence and reassure them that it is OK to have fun again.
Drop-in groups
Sabrina introduced Sophie to one of Rainbow Trust’s drop in groups where she met up with other people in similar situations.
“It’s just a great experience to meet up with them,” she said. Sophie’s family have welcomed all that Rainbow Trust offers, “It means a lot to us, but it also means a lot to our family. We really do appreciate it, so thank you.”