50th Birthday
‘Am I allowed two best days? To provide a bit of context, the gentleman we support moved out of hospital where he had been living for five years into his own home at the beginning March 2020. This was literally just a matter of weeks before the first COVID-19 lockdown. So, it was a real shame that, after a few weeks of going out, pursuing new activities and really enjoying himself, he found himself unable to go out at all. Because of his health, he was considered ‘high risk’ of getting seriously ill from COVID-19, so he had to take more precautions than the general population all the way through the pandemic. At this time his only way of communicating with his family was via virtual calls or by them maintaining a safe distance. I believe he lost some of his confidence about going out around this time. It’s actually only been this year that his confidence has started to return, and he is now doing all the things he did when he was a little boy. For me, my ‘first’ best day was when he was finally reunited with his family when his family members had all been vaccinated. This coincided with his 50th birthday and they all came round to celebrate with him, there were lots of hugs and laughs – seeing them finally reunited, and how happy they were, actually made me cry – I’m welling up thinking about it now!
My second favourite day was the trip we took to Knowsley Safari Park. The gentleman I support absolutely loves wild animals, but he has never had the opportunity to visit a zoo or safari park. We arranged for a day out at the safari park and seeing how happy he was to finally see some of his favourite animals up close was simply wonderful. It was such a magical moment. He had a brilliant day and at the end of the day his happiness is all that matters to us.’