Finn is the youngest of three boys, and just like his brothers’, his life is filled with the bustle of sports and activities – GAA, soccer, swimming, tennis, and athletics. But for Finn this activity is a key part of keeping him well as he lives with cystic fibrosis, a condition that requires daily physio sessions and nebulizer treatments.
Finn’s mum, Gráinne, has long focused on ensuring he lives a happy full life, but it’s not an easy journey as risks of infection and complications is an ever-present worry for the family. That’s why the Helium’s Distance Creates online programme offered a unique chance for Finn to have a space to embrace his creative side in a safe environment.
“He is so creative, and it just gives him a little bit of downtime”
explains Grainne.
“He really loved it, I’m thinking of the excitement he would have when the package from his ‘pen pal’ would arrive in the post… he just thought he was the business! It was a way of having connection with other children.”
The variety of activities offered something different every time, from creating with clay, to paint, even to activities that mirrored exercises he had to do to manage his condition.
“We had a week where we had a canvas and we were blowing paint across the thing, which is, actually one of the physio exercises that they get us to do with blowing through the straws and stuff.”
Gráinne also highlights how the programme provided a different kind of connection – a family connection. With Finn’s brothers joining in, the art sessions became a shared activity.
“The other two were getting involved in this as well, because I was sitting at the kitchen table with Finn and sure, they were coming out going, ‘Oh, give me a sheet of paper, give me some of the clay.’ And they were making their own things as well. So it got us all sitting down and actually just taking 30 minutes to actually just sit down in the moment.”
In a life often filled with rushing from one activity to the next, the programme offered a rare opportunity for calm and togetherness. As Gráinne reflected,
“I enjoyed the Saturday morning, still in our PJs sometimes, sitting down at the kitchen table having time together, basically.”
For Gráinne, the Helium Arts online programme offered more than just an artistic outlet for Finn; it provided a sense of normalcy and connection, and a welcome contrast to the medical challenges of cystic fibrosis.
“For me, it was having that connection with him that I don’t get on the side of a football pitch. I don’t have a connection with them there. Where this is me and him sitting down, having that connection together and it does help him and that boosts his confidence, and we just come away from it feeling happier for the day.”