Billy's House Opens its Doors

Today (23 June) the doors open to ‘Billy’s House’, the East Midland’s first Home from Home for families of children with cancer.

Run CLIC Sargent, the Nottingham home will mean whole families can to stay together when the unimaginable happens and a child is diagnosed with cancer.

Currently there are close to 200 children and young people with cancer, from across the East Midlands, supported by the CLIC Sargent Care Team at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.  With Billy’s House now open just across the road from the hospital, families won’t have to make the long journeys to and from the hospital when their child is having treatment.

‘Billy’s House’ is named after cancer survivor and Derbyshire schoolboy Billy Greenall. It is thanks to the incredible hard work of Billy’s mum Laura Greenall that ‘Billy’s Appeal’ has now raised over £2 million enabling CLIC Sargent to open its eighth Home from Home in the UK.

Laura Greenall, from Ashbourne in Derbyshire, says: “When Billy was treated for cancer at QMC, he was in a ward of 16 beds and the single z-bed next to his meant only one of us could stay. With only one shower, kettle and microwave shared between all the families on the ward, we all yearned from some privacy yet at the same time couldn’t bear not to be near our children who needed us.

“When Billy finished treatment two years ago we embarked on this huge project to build a home from home. Back then ‘Billy’s House’ was just a dream. But thanks to the hard work, support and generosity from so many people, this dream has become a reality. We have created a haven, an escape, somewhere for parents to regain their strength.”

Jane Lewis, CLIC Sargent Head of Services for the East Midlands, says: “Families of children facing months of treatment for cancer regularly have to make long journeys to and from hospital. By giving families a comfortable place to stay free of charge, this Home from Home will ease the financial burden and emotional strain that so many families face.”

The home consists of six large family bedrooms, five bathrooms, two kitchen units, a sun room, dining area, garden as well as a large family room and teenage room both designed by interior design guru Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen. 

Lewis from CLIC Sargent adds: “On behalf of everyone at CLIC Sargent and all the families who will be using the home over the next few years, I want to say an enormous thanks to Laura and the whole Greenall family. Without them we would not be opening this incredible home today.”