Parents don’t mind being woken early by excited children on Christmas Day
However, imagine if your family’s sleep was interrupted several times a night – right through the year. For the Moore family, from Framlingham, that is their everyday reality due to the complex needs of four-year son Rhys. The severely autistic youngster only sleeps for 90 minutes at a time making each night an exhausting ordeal for his mother and father, Sarah and Kevin, and their three other children, aged seven, 12, and 15. Over the Rainbow Children’s Charity, set up earlier this year by Bev Lambert, of Alderton near Woodbridge, launched an appeal in the East Anglian Daily Times in October to raise £6,500 for a Safespace Hi-Lo bed which would provide a secure tented environment for Rhys to sleep in and allow his family a restful night. Now Daya Thayan, CEO of Lowestoft-based Kingsley Healthcare, where Mrs Lambert works as recruitment manager, has given the appeal a festive lift with a £1,000 donation. Mrs Lambert, 55, said: “We are now hoping that East Anglian Daily Times readers will show their generosity and help us make it a much less stressful new year for the Moore family by reaching the £6,500 target.”
She said it had been listening to Mrs Moore’s heart-rending story that inspired her to launch her charity. “Rhys’s condition has not been properly diagnosed but he is severely autistic and needs 24/7 care. His mother is currently having to sleep downstairs on the sofa next to him,” she said. Mrs Moore, of Tudor Close, Framlingham, said without the special bed – which the local authority had refused to fund – it was unsafe to leave Rhys in bed on his own. She said: “He only sleeps for 90 minutes and wakes everyone else up. He can climb over baby gates and if he was locked in the room he could trash it and injure himself.” Mrs Moore described the efforts of Ms Lambert as “amazing”. “She is an incredible person. If anyone can make it succeed, she will,” she said. Mrs Lambert has raised many thousands of pounds for charity, successfully launching two previous ones. The first major fundraiser for Over the Rainbow Children’s Charity, which aims to help children with serious illnesses, is a ball on February 27 at the Holiday Inn, Ipswich – Orwell; tickets for the dinner and dance cost £40 per person.
If you would like to attend, please forward an email to [email protected] Ms. Lambert is appealing to businesses and individuals for prizes to raffle and auction.
Readers wanting to support the charity’s first target, to help the Moore family, are invited to make a donation through the website www.overtherainbow-childrenscharity.org.uk
