I wanted to write to thank you for once again giving me the opportunity to visit Tracy Ann House. As always the week was so much fun and I've met some wonderful people. It seemed as if we had no sooner arrived than it was time to go home again!
This visit was all the more special to me as I thought that I wouldn't be able to come again after my 25th birthday. By changing the age limit you've given me back some of the support that I had thought I'd lost for good.
I joined the Adult Services from the Teenager and Young Adult Services around ten months ago and almost immediately realised that the support I'd received from my liaison nurse and social groups and simply the security of knowing that when you were ill the people who were looking after you were familiar faces, like old friends, was no longer there. Some of the people who looked after me I had known and trusted since I was first diagnosed at the age of six and they had been there throughout my subsequent three relapses at ages 10, 17 and 22. I felt very lost and alone. Once I got to 25 no one seemed to want to know. I was just another file to be got through.
I know that I am not the only person of my age to have experienced this problem and by doing what you've done in raising the age limit I hope that you have set a precedent for other young adult services to follow. You continue to have my utmost respect, love and admiration for who you are and what you do.
With thanks and love
Vicky Walsh xxx
