<photo: on the slopes of Mount Elbrus, Russia>
remember the dreams you had when you were young? the dreams of being daring astronauts, mountaineers and adventurers. we dream to be daring.
and then we grow up. studies, getting married, having our own young ones, careers, professional qualifications and material things take centre stage.
we become pragmatic and many of us forget our idealistic dreams. perhaps some of us still hold on to those dreams, and maybe after we have become financially independent, after we retire, we can still make those dreams of daring adventures come true.
but for some, those dreams won't ever come true. many children are born with, or develop life-limiting conditions. this means that they have illnesses with no reasonable hope of cure that will ultimately be fatal.
the dreams of their parents also vanish - learning that your child has a life-limiting condition can be devastating. special palliative care is needed when their physical, emotional, social and educational needs change as they grow up with slowly regressing illnesses.
mountaineers spend time at base camp planning to reach the summits of their dreams. children with life-limiting conditions may never reach the summits of their dreams, but they can dare to dream of summits.
together with organisations like Star PALS, we can help children with life-limiting conditions believe that they are at base camp and dare to dream with them. what's your purpose in life?
“It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” - Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest