Marlene, retired Family Support Worker
Marlene joined Rainbow Trust as a Family Support Worker in 2002.
After 21 years at Rainbow Trust, she retired in 2023.
........I started in the Cumbria-based team (now the Kentown Support team) with just one other Family Support Worker and our Manager. Immediately, my favourite word to hear when I visited families became ‘remission’. At the time, all our visit notes had to be written up by hand and it was several years before we were given email addresses.
Rainbow Trust’s support was very important in Cumbria for the families living rurally as support was at a bare minimum. Caring for a sick child can be very isolating for the parents and siblings. The transport we provided was a great help for these families as some of them had to travel to Newcastle, Manchester or Liverpool for treatment, often more than a 200-mile round trip.
I will never forget the first family I visited and knocking on the door. I was nervous as I really wanted to do my best.
It was important to me to ensure that families knew that when they started receiving support, I would be there for as long as they needed me.
Every day being a Family Support Worker was a different story. The children I supported were amazing, so entertaining, amusing and curious about the world around them.
I loved working for Rainbow Trust, I was very proud of what Rainbow Trust stood for and I felt privileged to be welcomed into the lives of these families at such a daunting time. I hope I made their journey easier by going through it alongside them.
I would like to hope that Rainbow Trust will continue to grow and be able to reach out to more families that are in need over the next 40 years.
......Every day being a Family Support Worker was a different story. The children I supported were amazing, so entertaining, amusing and curious about the world around them.
Marlene volunteering at the Manchester Marathon
Marlene after abseiling down Liverpool Cathedral to raise money
A Family Support Worker is a lifeline, a connection to normality, someone who is there to help families cope with whatever they need, whether it be a person who understands them and knows what they are going through, a translator for medical terms, a companion to difficult hospital appointments, an entertainer of healthy brothers and sisters to give time to the parents to look after their seriously ill child.
Marlene, retired Family Support Worker
Marlene joined Rainbow Trust as a Family Support Worker in 2002.
After 21 years at Rainbow Trust, she retired in 2023.
........ I started in the Cumbria-based team (now the Kentown Support team) with just one other Family Support Worker and our Manager. Immediately, my favourite word to hear when I visited families became ‘remission’. At the time, all our visit notes had to be written up by hand and it was several years before we were given email addresses.
Rainbow Trust’s support was very important in Cumbria for the families living rurally as support was at a bare minimum. Caring for a sick child can be very isolating for the parents and siblings. The transport we provided was a great help for these families as some of them had to travel to Newcastle, Manchester or Liverpool for treatment, often more than a 200-mile round trip.
I will never forget the first family I visited and knocking on the door. I was nervous as I really wanted to do my best.
It was important to me to ensure that families knew that when they started receiving support, I would be there for as long as they needed me.
Every day being a Family Support Worker was a different story. The children I supported were amazing, so entertaining, amusing and curious about the world around them.
I loved working for Rainbow Trust, I was very proud of what Rainbow Trust stood for and I felt privileged to be welcomed into the lives of these families at such a daunting time. I hope I made their journey easier by going through it alongside them.
I would like to hope that Rainbow Trust will continue to grow and be able to reach out to more families that are in need over the next 40 years.
......Every day being a Family Support Worker was a different story. The children I supported were amazing, so entertaining, amusing and curious about the world around them.
Marlene volunteering at the Manchester Marathon
Marlene after abseiling down Liverpool Cathedral to raise money
Back
A Family Support Worker is a lifeline, a connection to normality, someone who is there to help families cope with whatever they need, whether it be a person who understands them and knows what they are going through, a translator for medical terms, a companion to difficult hospital appointments, an entertainer of healthy brothers and sisters to give time to the parents to look after their seriously ill child.
Sponsor a Family Support Worker like Marlene today
A Family Support Worker is a lifeline, a connection to normality, someone who is there to help families cope with whatever they need, whether it be a person who understands them and knows what they are going through, a translator for medical terms, a companion to difficult hospital appointments, an entertainer of healthy brothers and sisters to give time to the parents to look after their seriously ill child.