Young carer aiming to make others feel less alone

A teenager who began caring for his mother when has was just 10 has said he is determined to help other young carers feel less alone.

Blake, 16, from Long Melford, Suffolk, cares for Libby, who has multiple sclerosis, providing help with household chores, medication and her anxiety.

He started an initiative in 2019 to provide chocolate treats at Easter and Christmas for other young carers in Suffolk to recognise their work.

Blake said his Chocs for Champs project aimed to send a message to other young carers that they were not alone.

It began by delivering 639 Easter eggs to other young carers, but by last Christmas had given away more than 10,000 chocolate treats.

"I've been Mum's primary carer since I was 10, a sole carer; it's just part of my life, really," he said.

"Hearing them [other young carers] talk and hearing their experiences, I've sort of realised that there's some young carers out there in a lot worse situations and they do need that extra bit of give that might not be recognised.

"So Chocs for Champs, as well as being a chocolate treat, it's sort of like a token telling the young carers receiving them that they're not alone."

Libby said she was "incredibly proud" of what Blake had achieved.

"I'd be lost without him; he is my lifeline," she said.

"He's incredible, he gives up so much of his own time and his own life to help me and look after me and yet his focus is still on what can we do for other young carers, how can we help them to not feel... a bit isolated, a bit forgotten."

Blake hopes to expand the reach of Chocs for Champs through fundraising, allowing it to also focus on offering respite opportunities for carers.

"As he's got older, he's realised that the respite time that they have is crucial; just that time where they're children and something other than a carer."

She said young carers often had a lot happening in their lives that people were unaware of, and that Blake had "sacrificed" some of his childhood.

A fundraising cricket match is being held at Long Melford Cricket Club on Sunday.

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