By Pip Donegan, Disabled mum, wife and disability advocate
My name is Pip, I have 1 cheeky and very active little boy Harrison who is 2 in August and a very handsome assistance dog named Rusty. I had always wanted to be a mum, so even when I started to use a wheelchair or when I had my feeding tube fitted, it didn’t stop me dreaming about becoming a family. He was by all means a miracle, after years of heartache and fixing up my broken body we beat all the odds to become a family. Despite all the challenges, I love life, I love being a wife, a mum and helping people in both my local community and online community.
My husband John (Harrisons Dad), is an electrician that works shifts and long hours, 4 shifts in a row made up of 2 x 14 hour days, then 2 night shifts. The day shifts are particularly hard due to limited energy and being so long, until we found Whirli!
Wasting money on toys
Harrison absolutely loves new toys, but after a couple of hours, they just get thrown in the toy box and he’s looking for the next thing to discover. I’d say buying brand new toys is a waste of money, but when you are desperate for entertainment and in a lot of pain, you do want you have to do to get by!
Better value for money
When I spotted an ad for Whirli, I thought this could be my saviour! £90 worth of toys that can be swapped at any time for £9.99 a month? In a year, if I swap once a month, Harrison would have played with £1080 worth of toys for just under £120. Wow, that really would help with the weekly long day shifts!
So I excitedly went through to their website for a look. We are trying to reduce plastic use, like a lot of other families and love wooden toys. Grimms, Plan toys & Melissa & Doug are some of our favourites and we’ve been wanting to get Harrison a Wobbel board for a while.
Our new daily routine
Skip to delivery day, and my nurse brought in the parcel and placed it on the bottom of the bed then went to draw up my injections.
I call Harrison and he’s so excited to open the parcel!
We’ve been with Whirli a month now, and it’s been the best thing we’ve done! When daddy goes to work Harrison knows it’s new toy day! We open each new box when my nurse does my meds, and then he plays with his new toys all day. We get books to read together, games than can be played on the bed, and toys he can play independently.
It’s brought us closer together, and I don’t get anxious about daddy going to work now. I know our days are going to be full of fun and new discoveries, making better memories together.
Pip x
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