HOME visits from support staff and specialists at Ty Hafan children's hospice are helping to give a severely disabled little girl a chance to enjoy playing.

Jade, 14, lives with her mum, dad and two brothers near Chepstow. She was born prematurely and has suffered from many problems including respiratory and feeding problems and seizures, which meant many visits to hospital in her early years.

She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, has little movement in all four of her limbs and cannot communicate verbally. She is also registered blind.

Most of the life-limited children and their families registered at Ty Hafan hospice, beyond Cardiff, make daily visits for their services but because this would be very challenging for Jade, the hospice visits her instead!

Kirsty Clark, a hospice outreach play practitioner, and colleague Jane Creed, are providing play sessions at home for Jade, who has recently been very poorly. Her mum Angie continues the sessions between visits.

"It's wonderful to see Jade really enjoy her time with Kirsty. She is able to bring things out from the Ty Hafan toy and leisure library which under normal circumstances Jade would not be able to access," says Angie.

Jade is also having treatment from the hospice's complementary therapist Angela Tucker, who can provide aromatherapy and relaxation treatments which relieve pain and discomfort.

•Ty Hafan provides its service free for children like Jade but receives no statutory government funding and relies on public donations. An easy way to help is to join its Crackerjackpot lottery with weekly prizes to £2,000 and rollover jackpots up to £12,000 – to join with a weekly £1 subscription telephone 029 2067 2062 or visit website http://www.tyhafan.org">www.tyhafan.org