A special flavoured gin has been launched to enable gin lovers to give more this Christmas to a north-east charity.
Teaming up with Ellon Spirits, an Aberdeenshire mum has created the spirit to raise money for Charlie House.
Having been supported by the charity with her son Rory who has complex needs and a life-limiting condition for over nine years, mum-of-two, Jo Jamieson is always on the lookout for new fundraising ideas.
Mrs Jamieson said she struggled to put into words how much the charity has helped their family but she was always looking to give back by fundraising.
Helping to run Friends of Charlie House group in Inverurie and the surrounding area, the 46-year-old teamed up with Kieren Murphy from Ellon Spirits and friend and designer Lisa Stewart.
Together they created a unique orange-flavoured gin called Gin with Friends in honour of the charity.
‘We were basically taking him home to lose him’
It was 11 years ago that Jo and Euan Jamieson’s son Rory was born by emergency C-section after scans showed he had stopped moving.
After Rory was resuscitated and faced days of medical and health issues, the couple were sat down and told he had suffered catastrophic brain damage.
Mrs Jamieson said: “We got to take him home when he was eight weeks old. But we took him home on morphine, knowing the morphine was just going to be increased when the time came for us to lose him.
“So we were basically taking him home to lose him.
“While it’s very difficult to say, we imagined going home and living this sheltered life, we didn’t think it was going to be that long.”
It was not until Mrs Jamieson met Tracy Johnstone, founder of the charity Charlie House, when Rory was one years old that she thought they might have longer with him.
“That was the first time I’ve kind of thought he might survive this,” she added. “That was the first change in my life that made me think he may make it.”
‘With Charlie House we’re always thinking ahead’
Since then, Rory has been in and out of hospital a lot and they have had some “very difficult” times.
The Insch resident added: “I would say that probably more than 10 times, we’ve sat in the hospital with him and the doctors have said, ‘This is it. You need to see your goodbyes. He’s not coming back from this.’
“And my husband and I have spent hours sat by his bed just waiting for it to happen. Then suddenly it turns a corner and we’re home again. It’s so difficult you almost disconnect from that belief.
“We know it’s a reality but it’s almost like we’ve grieved for him so many times and then gone back to a normal life again, you kind of live in that kind of limbo.
“But without Charlie House, I think we would always be living that way. I think we would always be living every day as if there was no tomorrow.
“Whereas with Charlie House, we’re always planning ahead. We’re always thinking about what comes next, we’re always doing more activities.
“The memories alone that we have from the activities that we’ve done with Charlie House…if we have to lose Rory and live with those memories, it’s huge to us.”
Charlie House offers a network of support for parents and carers in similar situations as well as for siblings such as Rory’s eight-year-old sister Mollie.
It supports children and young people in the north-east who have life-limiting or life-threatening conditions and provides support for them and their families.
The new Gin with Friends bottle of gin is available to purchase for £40 on Ellon Spirits website. All profits will go directly to Charlie House.
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