This year marks a significant milestone for Children's Hospice South West as it marks 25 years since the charity was founded by Eddie Farwell and his late wife Jill.

Now with three hospices in the region in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, CHSW offers help and support to children who are living with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions and is the only organisation in the South West to provide hospice care to not only children, but also their whole family.

Since its creation in 1991, CHSW’s mission statement has remained the same, simply to make the most of short and precious lives. This year, is therefore an extremely important year for the charity and Eddie Farwell, now CEO of the charity, said: "My hope is that in another 25 years Children’s Hospice South West will have expanded its services and will be able to support even more children with life-limiting illnesses and that there is still an army of supporters who can help us to sustain what we do."

Eddie and Jill’s idea to create a children’s hospice came from their own experiences of caring for their own life-limited children, Katie and Tom. In 1983, both children were diagnosed as suffering with a rare degenerative disorder which meant they would die somewhere between the ages of ten and 20.

At that time the only children’s hospice in the world was Helen House, some five hours drive away in Oxford. This hospice gave the family relief and allowed Eddie and Jill time off from the daily caring and domestic duties. It was this experience that gave Eddie and Jill the incentive to create a much needed centre of help and support for the families and children in the region.

With its three hospices, the charity has achieved its goal of ensuring that no one in the South West needs to travel for more than 90 minutes by car to reach their nearest children’s hospice, and from its start in a spare room at the Farwell’s home in North Devon, CHSW has gone on to care for over 2,000 children across the region.

CHSW now offers a wealth of services, all of which are free to the families, including medical care 365 days a year, emergency care, end of life care, respite breaks, sibling care, bereavement support and holistic care including music therapy. In its 25th year, the charity is already looking to the future and the hope that it can continue to help many hundreds of families across the South West for many more years to come.