We’re in this together

Practical Support

Domestic Cleaning

We offer free domestic cleaning services to families affected by childhood cancer at Hand in Hand. When hospital stays and doctor appointments make staying on top of the housework difficult, we’re here to help. Our goal is to alleviate the burden of cleaning and day to day chores so families can spend more time concentrating on the important things. By partnering with local cleaning companies across the country for professional house cleaning services, we ensure your home is safe and clean. This allows families battling childhood cancer to focus on their little one’s health and spend precious time together.

Meals

When dealing with your child’s cancer treatment, the last thing on your mind is what you’re having for dinner. Hand in Hand provides family meal services across the country with the help of local services, supermarket vouchers, and online meal delivery services. When a family requires help with meals, we will work directly with them to find the best solution for their needs. Supplying families with nutritious food during cancer treatment helps them eat well and reduces caregiver burden and stress.

Laundry

We want families to worry about their children’s treatment and wellbeing and not their housekeeping, so we provide free laundry services to families battling a childhood cancer diagnosis. If a family needs help with laundry, we will work with a local laundrette in their area to ensure they have clean laundry, no matter the circumstances. Hand in Hand provides these services to families across the country who are dealing with these unfortunate circumstances in hopes of giving them one less thing to worry about.

How do families avail of Hand in Hand’s services?

Families are usually referred to Hand in Hand by medical and social care staff at Children’s Health Ireland Crumlin and Temple Street. All Hand in Hand services are free to families with a child undergoing cancer treatment. Families are always welcome to contact us directly to enquire about support. Email us at info@handinhand.ie or call 087-660-0103

Practical Support

From household cleaning to family meal services, our practical support services ensure the little things are looked after when a child is diagnosed with cancer so families can focus on the big things like treatment, wellbeing, and spending time together.

Emotional Support

Children and their families often require emotional support through the difficult times a cancer diagnosis brings. We provide play therapy, counselling and more from the point of diagnosis onwards in a caring and supportive environment.

Get Involved

Your involvement, support, and donations can considerably impact the lives of children with cancer and their families across Ireland. The money raised funds our essential services, so your support is much appreciated.

Inspiring Stories

My name is Poppy, I am 9 years old and I’m from Sligo. I like to play with my friends, draw, watch TV and I love animals. My life was good and lots of fun until I was diagnosed with leukemia 9 months ago. This is a type of blood cancer that is not easy to live with. The treatment is for two and a half years and is very harsh. One medicine made my hair all fall out and I was sad and I cried, I now have short hair and I love it, although everyone thinks I’m a boy. The medicine also made me so weak that I ended up in a wheelchair because I couldn’t walk and I was so bad at one stage that my mum had to turn me over in bed because I didn’t have the strength to even move. I also have had to go to theatre over 10 times so far and have had over 10 transfusions as my blood cells can get quite low with the chemo. Me & my mum have to travel to Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin a lot, it’s a nice hospital, we used to have to drive up every week from Sligo for my treatment, but now it’s just every month.

Meet Poppy

Our daughter Sophie was diagnosed with Bi-Lateral Wilms Tumour (Cancer in both her kidneys) in when she was 16 months old. She underwent 12 months of chemotherapy and 6 sessions of radiotherapy. She had to have both her kidneys removed and started dialysis 3 days a week in Temple Street Children’s Hospital. We traveled from Sligo to Dublin 3 days a week for dialysis. Normal life ceased to exist for us, our entire life revolved around the trips to Dublin for dialysis and in that first year for chemotherapy. We had to put our life on hold and yet try to keep life normal for our oldest child Darragh who was 4 at the time. There was always the constant worry about Sophie and how her treatment & dialysis was going, the endless traveling to Dublin, worrying how Darragh was coping with it all particularly because we had to be away from home so often. We could never plan ahead of anything because you never knew when Sophie would get sick or spike a temperature and we would have to go to Temple Street with her, while Darragh was minded by family members. Thomas took leave from his job for 2 years to travel to Dublin with Sophie.

Meet Sophie