Meet The Lewis Family…

When brave Phoebe decided to take on a skydive she knew she wanted to raise money for Dougie Mac, to say thank you for the care her older sister Abby had received for many years, before she passed away in June 2024. In August 2025 Phoebe completed her skydive and raised a fantastic £1,671 for Dougie Mac.

Phoebe said: “When Abby became really ill I was telling a friend how she’d always wanted to do a skydive but would never get the chance, so I always knew it was something I’d do for Abby.  One day I decided to get in touch with the Dougie Mac fundraising team to see if they could help and before I knew it they’d booked my place and it was all arranged.

“On the day I felt nervous but not for the actual skydive, just about the moment when I had to jump out of the plane. In reality it took far longer to go up in the plane than the actual jump itself. Mum and Dad were watching from the ground and my boyfriend was following the plane on a flight tracker because they couldn’t see the plane in the clouds. It was really emotional for all of us and it suddenly hit me that I was doing it for Abby, so when I landed and saw everyone waiting for me we all broke down in tears.”

Phoebe’s older sister, Abby, was first supported by Dougie Mac’s Children’s Services (formerly The Donna Louise) when she was around five years old. Abby had been diagnosed with an optic nerve glioma – a type of brain tumour – at the age of three, which caused her to lose her sight. 

Mum, Sara, explained: “My Husband Dave and I had noticed that Abby seemed to bump into things a lot, so we’d taken her for eye tests and had been referred to the eye hospital. I remember taking her for the appointment on a Friday and within an hour the optician called to say that she’d booked an urgent CT Scan at Wolverhampton Hospital for the following day. She was then referred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital for an MRI scan on the Monday and from that Abby was given her diagnosis.”

Abby began chemotherapy immediately and it was while she was staying in the hospital with Abby, that Sara discovered that she was pregnant with Phoebe.

Sara added: “I don’t really remember much about my pregnancy with Phoebe because we were in and out of hospital with Abby. When Phoebe was born we brought her home and literally went straight back into hospital with Abby, who was poorly with an infection. That was our life for years. We’d finish Abby’s treatment, go back to the hospital three or four months later for an MRI, and then start more chemo.”

During a routine visit to the family’s home, a community nurse suggested that the family should get in touch with the Children’s Hospice to find out more about the help available. A member of the children’s care team went to visit the family and invited them to look around the hospice.

“Abby loved the children’s hospice, although she thought it was only for poorly children and didn’t class herself as being poorly. She loved all the different rooms, especially the play and music rooms, as well as the library where she loved listening to stories. She loved her art sessions too, our house is full of her paintings and she would often paint pictures to give to people as gifts.

“We stayed as a family too and Phoebe enjoyed playing in the soft play area. It was a chance for Dave and me to spend quality time with Phoebe, while the care team looked after Abby.

“Abby continued to go to school, which she enjoyed as she was a very sociable little girl, but she didn’t want to tell anyone about her illness and because she’d gone blind so young, she found it hard to make friends at school. She didn’t get invited to other children’s houses because it was a big responsibility for their parents to look after her, so when she came to the children’s hospice it was somewhere she could really play and meet new friends.”

As the years passed, Abby continued to spend time at the children’s hospice and, as a teenager, she attended the Youth Club where, along with her friends, she was involved in the planning and design of the new building for Young Adults. 

At the same time, Phoebe attended the Siblings Group on Saturday afternoons where she made some great friends and even enjoyed weekends away.

Phoebe added: “Everyone knew me as ‘Abby’s sister’ at school, so when I came to the Siblings Group I could just be me. I have good memories of coming to the children’s hospice as a child, the food was really good and we always had massive fish fingers to eat. I loved the gardens and playground and I also loved playing with the mini kitchen and the doll’s house.”

As Abby got older, she didn’t visit the children’s hospice as often, but when she was about 18 her tumour became more aggressive and the family got in touch to ask if there was any support available from our Young Adult Services.

Sara explained: “The years passed in a blur and before we knew it Phoebe was going off to university. By this time, Abby was spending a day a week at the Young Adult Services and she had really bonded with some of the staff, who were amazing with her, she loved playing Braille Scrabble with them. We arranged for her to stay over for the first time while we took Phoebe to university, so that we could help her settle in.”

As Abby’s condition worsened, it became harder for her to visit the Young Adult Services, so our care team visited her at home instead, sitting with Abby to give Sara a much-needed break. Over time, Abby’s speech and mobility declined and she was eventually admitted to a hospice closer to her family home where she passed away in June 2024.

Sara said: “Abby went downhill quite quickly and needed care 24 hours a day, which we just couldn’t manage at home. Although she went into a different hospice, members of the Dougie Mac Young Adults’ team continued to visit and would sit and chat to her, as well as check in with us to see how we were doing.”

After she passed away, Abby was transferred to Dougie Mac’s bereavement suite, within the children’s services, where her family were able to spend precious time with her before her funeral.

Sara added: “The bedroom was made up with everything Abby loved, Harry Potter bedding, her favourite music and even her favourite Braille Scrabble was in there with her. It was a special time and we knew she wasn’t on her own, even when we weren’t there.”

Phoebe, Sara and Dave are now planning to tick off some of the things from Abby’s bucket list, which she sadly wasn’t well enough to do herself. 

Sara said: “Thankfully Abby was able to do some things, like going to the theatre to watch The Cursed Child, enjoying afternoon tea and experiencing some of her favourite singers live in concert. She really wanted to go to New York too, but just wasn’t well enough, so we are going later this year for Phoebe’s 21^st Birthday and we’ll all be remembering Abby while we’re there.”

Since Abby’s death, Dougie Mac’s support for the family has continued as Sara has been seeing one of our counsellors and has joined our Mums’ Bereavement Group. “I’m having 1-1 counselling, which is either in person or over the phone, and we’ll just chat about how things are going and how I’m feeling. The Group also really helps because all the Mums are at different stages of loss, so when we share how we’re feeling, there’s always someone who can relate and we all help each other.”