A family game-changer: Charlotte and Finley’s story
When Tammy and Mike were invited to bring their children, Charlotte and Finley, to the MediCinema at the Serennu Children’s Centre in Newport, it offered them a family experience that they had never been able to access before.
Serennu Children’s Centre provides vital care, treatment and activities for children and young people with disabilities and/or developmental difficulties as well as support for the wider family. The MediCinema there provides a welcoming, inclusive environment that supports their additional needs—needs that are often not accommodated in standard commercial cinemas.
This is their story told by mum, Tammy.
MediCinema has been a game-changer for our family. It’s given us a wonderful opportunity that we wouldn’t normally be able to access – and it allows both of our children to be themselves.
Tammy, Charlotte and Finley's mum
My son, Finley, is the loudest boy in the world, but he can’t cope with loud noises. He’s autistic and it takes him time to get to grips with new things and he can’t sit still! He is kind and he is so clever, reading at an age way beyond his years.
If Finley is my loud one, my daughter, Charlotte, is my quiet one. She has a rare syndrome that comes with a variety of health complications, but she is patient, resilient and tolerant of anything that comes her way. Even when she had to have spinal surgery – a traumatic experience with six days in the ICU – she just rolls with it.
There are few places that are fully accessible for us as a family; we’ve looked at theatres, the zoo, the cinema, the aquarium … ah, they would LOVE that. But with Charlotte in a wheelchair and very few places set up with facilities to change a 12-year-old, we are so restricted on where we can take them. It’s not fair that the two of them miss out on so much.
There’s lots of things we can’t do as a family, so to be able to access something like this, something a bit ‘normal’ means so much.
Tammy, Charlotte and Finley's mum
We’d been accessing the Serennu Children’s Centre for a few years when Sparkle, the team there, recommended MediCinema. Before we knew it, me and my husband were biting the bullet and driving to our first cinema screening as a family.
They both loved it, but it was a couple of screenings later when MediCinema became a game-changer for us. Kieran in the Sparkle team asked whether Charlotte might be more comfortable in a beanbag; they could use a hoist to get her into it from her wheelchair. She can find it uncomfortable sitting in her chair for a long time, especially after the car drive to the centre, so we jumped at the chance for her to be able to stretch out her back while she was watching the film. From then on, at every screening we’ve been to, Kieran has made sure there is a beanbag available for them both, and it’s the perfect set up.
For the first half an hour of every film, Finley will sit under his blanket with his ear defenders on (all you can see are his eyes!), until slowly, he’ll settle into his beanbag and start to bring the blanket down and take his ear defenders off. He will relax into the environment on his own terms, in his own time. And Charlotte can just relax. They are just so comfy together, so happy, smiling and giggling throughout the film.
There’s lots of things we can’t do as a family, so to be able to access something like this, something a bit ‘normal’ means so much. The kids enjoy it so much and as parents, we feel we can deal with anything that might crop up because it’s such a relaxed, welcoming and inclusive environment. To be able to whizz out and change Charlotte when we need to, or for Finn to be able to get up and have a wander around if he needs it – that means so much. No-one is baulking or tutting – because everyone is in a similar situation and gets it. And Jon and the team are amazing.
MediCinema has been a game-changer for us as a family. It gives us a wonderful opportunity that we wouldn’t normally be able to access – and it allows both of our children to be themselves.
