Stories

Hannah is 7 years old and lives in Glasgow. She has epilepsy, and experiences several different seizure types, including focal, drop seizures, tonic, and tonic-clonic. The tonic-clonic seizures usually become Status Epilepticus, meaning they last more than 5 minutes, though her longest seizure lasted almost two hours.

Daniel is 14 and has a life-limiting muscle-wasting condition called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy – a rare genetic disease. Daniel also has severe anxiety, which has impacted greatly on his day-to-day life.

Harry from Liverpool is 8 years old and has hydrocephalus and spina bifida. He mainly uses his wheelchair to get about, but also makes use of a walking frame at times. Here, proud dad Mick tells us his story.

Lucas, who is 13 and from Yorkshire, is an identical twin. His diagnoses include severe autism, refractory epilepsy, global development delay and severe learning and behavioral difficulties. Like so many disabled children, Lucas also has severe anxiety.

Hadley is 9 years old and lives in Hampshire. He is a twin who was born 3 months premature. As a result of being born this early, Hadley has cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia, which means he needs to use a wheelchair. He also has anxiety.

Elliott from Gloucestershire is 10 years old and a registered carer to his older brother Finley, who has Down's syndrome. Here,‌ ‌in‌ ‌his‌ ‌own‌ ‌words,‌ ‌Elliott ‌describes‌ ‌his‌ ‌life‌ ‌as‌ ‌a‌ ‌young‌ ‌carer‌ ‌to‌ ‌his‌ ‌brother.‌

Amelia from Sussex is the older sister of Isabelle (Izzie), who has cerebral palsy. Izzie has become an inspirational figure to many by overcoming her challenges to win the Pan Disability European Judo Championship in 2017 and 2018 as well as the Sussex Sports Disabled Sports Personality of the Year Award in 2019. Here, in her own words, Amelia describes her life as a young carer to her sister.

Josh from Staffordshire is the elder brother of Harry who has Down's Syndrome. Here, in his own words, Josh describes his life as a young carer for his brother.

11-year-old Alex from Staffordshire is the younger brother to Daniel who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Daniel is a full-time wheelchair user and Variety was able to fund a Strikeforce Sports Powerchair for him. He is now losing upper body strength, which means he is reliant on others for his personal care, including one-to-one assistance at school. Here, in his own words, Alex describes his life as a young carer to his brother.

Sophie and Ellie are twin sisters of Finlay who is six and has Epilepsy and Global development delay (GDD). He is also non-verbal. Here, in their own words, Sophie and Ellie describe their lives as young carers to their brother.