Godfrey's Gift is a project that has stemmed from the personal experience of Naomi, a mum, wife and resident of Chichester.
The Godfrey's had only lived in Chichester for 12 months and had just welcomed their 4th child at the time they received Darren's life-changing diagnosis.
Being so new to the area and leading incredibly busy lives, the support network at this stage, was minimal.
Fortunately, they were taken into the incredible care of The Fernhurst Centre at St Richards, and as time went by and people learnt of their plight they found a circle of friends, which has continued to grow and flourish as time has passed.
The Godfrey's learnt one of the hardest parts of a cancer diagnosis is the effect it could have on their children, and they did what they could to protect their young family from the dark cloud that cancer can bring.
Alongside this difficult learning, they realised that despite the support available to them as adults, the support available to their children was not the same.
Despite being honest with the children and answering their questions in the most age-appropriate and honest way, there was always a concern of how the diagnosis might affect the children emotionally.
Cancer can isolate families and they can become incredibly lonely, for example: play-dates came to an end on both sides so socialising with other children became a thing of the past.
Having lived the experience first hand, Naomi is hopeful this will stand her in good stead to support other families in a practical and compassionate way, helping to ease some of the many burdens a cancer diagnosis brings.
As a new project, Naomi is always on the look out to recruit volunteers to help raise funds, help with admin tasks, serve tea, donate cakes or provide creative activities for the children at the monthly meet-ups.
If you would like to know more about how to support Godfrey's Gift, you can do so