At just 7 years old, Emberly Heppenstall has been made the youngest ever ambassador for MYTIME Young Carers. A young carer herself, Emberly has been a fierce advocate for MYTIME since she started accessing the charity’s services in 2020. Now, Emberly is going one (dance) step further, taking on a four-hour dance-a-thon on 16th April to raise funds for the charity.
Emberly’s mum Jen explains that: ‘Emberly became a young carer 2 years ago when I fell ill and needed support… She has had to take on so much for someone so young but MYTIME are always there for us both.’
Although she is one of the youngest children MYTIME support, Emberly is one of the most outspoken advocates for the charity. After finding out that MYTIME’s work relies on donations and becoming concerned the support they give her and others in her situation may stop, Emberly was inspired to start her latest campaign to raise money for the weekly Zoom meetings and activity days she loves so much: ‘MYTIME helps me when I have struggles and worries about my mummy. The making memory days and Zoom meetings make me feel very happy, relaxed and calm and it helps because I am always a little bit worried about Mummy. We need to fundraise, because if MYTIME run out of money, the Zoom meetings for all the young carers can’t happen anymore. Young carers need Zoom meetings to look after their mummies, learn how to do things and calm down.
‘I am going to be doing a really cool dance-a-thon for fundraising. I thought if I ask my friends to give me some really cool dance moves, I could do it for four hours straight! Sometimes stopping for snacks and drinks though so I don’t get too sweaty!’
To support and donate to Emberly’s dance-a-thon on April 16th, visit her fundraising page!
