Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice marks Hospice UK’s 2025 Hospice Care Week (6-12 October 2025) by sharing stories that perfectly illustrate this year’s theme – ‘Hospice Care is more than you think.’
Hospices like Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice are dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. Their care extends beyond the child to support the entire family, offering a truly holistic approach that addresses not just clinical needs, but also the psychological, social, and spiritual well-being of those they support. Whilst they can’t change a diagnosis, they can help children and families make the most of the time they have together. Their care is shaped around what matters most to each child and family, seeing them as individuals, not just as patients or carers.
Despite the huge impact that hospices have, including bridging significant gaps in social care, there is little public awareness and understanding of the support that hospices provide. This is why, this Hospice Care Week, Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice is joining forces with Hospice UK to tell the stories of what really goes on behind the doors of a hospice. And it’s more than you think!
The Right to an Education
One remarkable way that Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice supports children and young people is advocating for their right to an education. Children’s right to an education is a fundamental human right, enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It mandates that every child have access to free, quality primary education and that secondary and higher education be available to all but so often children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions get left behind.
One young person that could have been left behind is Nasif Hussain, 20, from Camden. But, for Nasif and his Family Link Worker, Jo, that just wasn’t an option. Jo started supporting in 2022 just before his GCSEs and has fiercely advocated for him to receive the education he is entitled to. Nasif has Mitochondrial Neurogastrointestinal Encephalomyopathy (MNGIE). This presents in Nasif as extreme pain, fatigue and gastrointestinal problems, which resulted in him having a liver transplant. Through astonishing self-discipline and hard work, Nasif, 20, went on to pass 13 GCSEs and more recently three A Levels and has been accepted at University College London to continue his studies.
Nasif says of Jo’s support: ‘She’s been a really big help, school thought I should just give up on my GCSEs but Jo talked them round.’
Jo Isaacs, Noah’s Ark’s Family Link Team Manager said: ‘A life-threatening or life-limiting condition is devastating on its own. To also feel that your education has been forgotten must be unimaginable. Our job, as a hospice, is to make sure that these children and young people are seen, heard, and most importantly – not forgotten.’
