When parents have a child with a complex medical condition, it can be difficult, even impossible, to get a night’s sleep or for parents to have a break, spending time together. An occasional night’s sleep – or even a few hours respite from being a carer – can make the difference between coping or not. Camp Simcha’s Evie’s Night Owls service offers regular respite to families in this situation.

At just three months old Tzvi Dafner suffered severe brain damage, after contracting influenza and going into cardiac arrest. It left him unable to respond to stimuli, cortically blind, in constant pain and having seizures that lasted all day and night. Tzvi now needs round-the-clock care, and, among the many services Camp Simcha has put in place, his mum Sarah says the night-time respite is a lifeline.

“It is impossible to quantify the difference the night-time respite has made to our family. It has been hard enough to cope with the enormity of Tzvi’s condition and the day-to-day impact on all of us, but without sleep it feels impossible. Knowing we have that night’s respite coming to regain our strength keeps us going.”