TO celebrate Scotland’s Year of Young People, every week in 2018 The National is giving a platform to a young Scot. This week, it’s the turn of teenage carer Jamie.
MY name is Jamie and I’m 15 years old. I’ve been caring for my mum since I was nine years old. My mum has breast cancer, heart disease and arthritis which means for the last four years she has been enduring cycles of weekly chemotherapy in her ongoing battle with cancer.
As a young carer I’m there to help support my mum on a daily basis, helping with housework and general day-to-day tasks. From taking mum shopping to attending hospital appointments, I’m there for her every step of the way.
Mum and I have strong relationship, with my big sister now having her own family to look after it leaves just me and mum at home. Leaving mum is difficult for me; I constantly worry about what might happen if she’s on her own.
Going to school was particularly difficult for me, because leaving mum for six hours a day filled me with fears and anxiety.
School was always a negative experience for me. I felt under pressure to keep up with homework and pay attention during class whilst I was busy worrying and taking care of my mum.
I felt like my teachers never understood my caring role or the barriers I faced to keep up with school work and homework.
I was often getting into trouble from my teachers, which left me frustrated as they didn’t understand that my mum was my top priority. I never felt that I could speak to my teachers about my caring role. Most of them knew I was a young carer through home link, but I always felt that they never cared about my situation or made any attempts to support me at school.
I went to two different high schools and in that time, I only felt that one teacher wanted to help me.
Mrs Aitken was the one teacher that reached out to me and allowed me to be open about the difficulties I was having and tried her best to help me through them.
However, my attendance still suffered because of my caring role and lack of whole-school support to the point that I am now not attending school at all.
For now I have tutor who comes to my house two mornings a week, which has made huge difference in my education, and I feel able to speak to him openly. It has also increased my confidence as he has helped me fulfil my passion for acting.
In November I was very lucky to win the Young Carer of the Year award at the Positive About Youth Awards, organised by community-based youth charity Renfrewshire Youth Voice. I was completely ecstatic and my mum was so overwhelmed she cried with joy. This was a very positive moment in my life as it’s a memory that both me and my family will treasure forever.
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