From 18th to 24th May, we proudly celebrated Children’s Hospice Week 2025 at LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice. This year’s theme, ‘Every Step, Every Challenge, Together’, highlighted the continuous journey of families of children with palliative care needs and the support provided by LauraLynn.
This year, for the first time, our Family Fun Day moved from August to May to coincide with and kick off Children’s Hospice Week. The weather was perfect on Sunday 18th May and families and staff enjoyed a day of laughter, play, and memory-making together on the grounds of LauraLynn.
We paid a very special visit to An Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD, who met with Cillian Foy and his family, helping to launch the campaign and shine a national spotlight on the lived experiences of families caring for a child with a life-limiting condition.
We were honoured to feature the Musial family from Limerick in this year’s Children’s Hospice Week campaign video, which beautifully captured the emotional and practical realities of family life with a seriously ill child. Their story helped bring the message of the week to life for audiences across Ireland.
As part of this year’s campaign, LauraLynn also released findings from two important family surveys, offering a powerful insight into the lived experiences of families caring for a child with palliative care needs. The surveys revealed the psychological, emotional, financial, and administrative challenges these families face every day, helping to raise awareness and inform how services like LauraLynn can continue to respond with compassion, care, and support. One of the surveys was also conducted in partnership with UCD School of Psychology.
As well as Family Fun Day we hosted a range of events and activities for families, volunteers, staff, supporters and the wider LauraLynn community.
Now in its second year, the Treadmill Challenge was a standout success, with nearly every slot filled. Supporters kept treadmills moving for 24 hours straight, a powerful symbol of the non-stop care families provide for their children. We were thrilled to welcome visitors including members of the Irish and Leinster Rugby Teams, Davey Byrne from the Dublin GAA Team, and well-known supporters like Amy Huberman, Lorraine Keane, Carly Mahady, Paul Merriman, Get Fitter with Chris and Rory O’Connor (Rory’s Stories). This was made possible through incredible support also from Verve, FLYEFit and DCC.
National Volunteering Week
As part of the celebrations, we also marked National Volunteering Week, taking time to recognise and celebrate the incredible contributions of our dedicated volunteers. From helping at events to supporting families and staff behind the scenes, our volunteers are at the heart of everything we do. During the week, we hosted a special Volunteer Appreciation Event to say thank you for the time, compassion, and energy they give so generously to LauraLynn.
Hero Day
Hero Day also took place this week, with schools across Ireland dressing up and fundraising in support of LauraLynn. We were delighted to see Hero Day featured on RTÉ’s News2Day, helping to raise awareness among younger audiences and their families.
Importantly to demonstrate one of LauraLynn’s values, collaboration, we also paid a visit to Children’s Health Ireland, where we shared the results from the Children’s Hospice Week survey and brought some delicious cupcakes, a small gesture to spread awareness and appreciation among our peers in children’s palliative care.
In the Media
Children’s Hospice Week 2025 received widespread media coverage, with highlights including:
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Photos from Family Fun Day appearing in the Irish Independent and Irish Examiner
- Live reporting from RTÉ 2FM’s Graham Smyth at the Treadmill Challenge
- Ex rugby player Jordi Murphy appearing on Virgin Media’s Ireland AM
- Radio interviews with LauraLynn spokespeople including CEO Kerry McLaverty, Head of Communications Sarah Callaghan, Director of Nursing Anne-Marie Carroll, Assistant Director of Nursing Liz O’Donoghue, Principal Clinical Psychologist, Aidan McKiernan, Clinical Nurse Specialist Clare Daly and Treadmill organisers Cathy White and Niamh Doyle
- National and regional newspaper coverage
Raising awareness
Our marketing campaign this year was one of our most impactful to date, combining:
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A powerful radio advertisement
- Organic and paid social media
- Video on demand and podcast advertising
- Cinema ads
- Outdoor advertising including bus shelters and 48 Sheets
This multi-channel approach helped us reach new audiences and deepen the public's understanding of the work we do.
A Week to Remember
We were honoured to end the week on a high note by winning two awards at the Irish Healthcare Centre Awards 2025:
- Clinical Team of the Year (Public)
- Specialist Care Centre of the Year
These awards are a testament to the dedication, compassion, and excellence of our entire team.
A Message from Our CEO
LauraLynn CEO Kerry McLaverty said:
“Children’s Hospice Week is a time to share what we’ve learned about the lived experience of families of children with life limiting illnesses. At LauraLynn it is so important for us to ask, listen to and understand what our families really need to make things a little bit better for them. It helps us provide the right care and support through the toughest journey whether that be at the hospice, in hospital or in the comfort of a child’s home. Together with your support we can meet the needs of these wonderful children and families as best as possible. They deserve nothing less.”
Thank You
We are deeply grateful to everyone who supported Children’s Hospice Week 2025: whether you donated, shared our message, took part in an event, or simply took a moment to learn more about our work.
And a special thank you to Malgosia and Cillian’s families for sharing their stories, as well as any other families who shared quotes, spoke to journalists and who took part in the family survey.
