ATWORTH mother, Emma Roberts, who found a new career direction whilst caring for her son, has released a set of cards for sale this Christmas.
Emma, a former NHS high-flyer whose life changed completely when her 13-year-old son George became ill with the devastating energy-sapping illness M.E., has been inspired by her new home farm floristry business to branch into selling cards to help the charity ME Association.
George was diagnosed with M.E. at the age of eight – after going into hospital with a nasty bout of glandular fever. “After that, our bouncy, mischievous football-loving son never really recovered”, said Emma.“The past few years have been very up and down.
“He started secondary school two years ago using his electric wheelchair, which was really isolating and meant making friends was so hard. Nowadays, he’s in school between 9 and 12 five days a week, although sometimes the illness means he can’t make it in every day.”
Emma has a rather pragmatic view of the pandemic stating, “I have to say that the changes brought about by the pandemic have been really instrumental in improving George’s ability to attend school.
“The year group is in a bubble and the children have to stay put in the classroom during the day, while their teachers do all the walking round between lessons.
“This has reduced significantly the energy drain for George and means he can concentrate on making friends. He’s been much more stable over the last few months and has been able to use his wheelchair as a backup at school.”
Emma rented some land next to the family home in Atworth a little under a year ago. She grows a profusion of flowers and other plants there for her new one-woman business, The Flower Studio.
Initially, she started selling to friends and neighbours. Now she is hoping to move into mail order and seeing her business grow to become sustainable. If things go well, she might rent a bigger plot next year.
Three of the cards that Emma is selling to raise money for the ME Association have been designed by family friend Gabrielle Malcolm. Emma’s cards are available from www.theflowerstudio.org/shop/p/original-artwork-christmas-cards. £2.50 from each sale will be donated to the ME Association.
