Lexie’s story

After launching the One-to-One Mentoring Programme, funded by Sport England, at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust earlier in 2025, Lexie has been one of the first patients to work with our world class athlete mentors.

11-year-old Lexie has been attending Sheffield Children’s for a few years now to help treat Chronic Recurrent Multifocal Osteomyelitis (CMRO) and associated arthritis a condition which she has lived with for several years and finding the right balance of medication has been challenging.

The newly launched programme in Sheffield joins our other one-to-mentoring programmes in hospitals across the UK – Dame Kelly Holmes Trust currently works in Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital offering young patients the chance to work with our athlete mentors who encourage and motivate them to become more active during their treatment, and in their recovery. The mentoring sessions are delivered online to be accessible from hospital and home and allows in- and out-patients to benefit from the programme.

Lexie found motivation for physical activity working with England Cerebral Palsy Football star, Harry Baker

When young people are referred to the One-to-One Programme by the hospital’s care team, they can choose the athlete mentor they want to work with. Lexie chose Harry Baker, a current member of the England Cerebral Palsy Football team who has played in nine major international tournaments and is currently preparing for the 2025 European Championships, held at Loughborough University this summer.

Prior to her sessions, Lexie struggled with physical activity - her condition caused her to become tired quickly and experience pain. Lexie’s Mum said: “It has been a hard for Lexie as she just wanted to be like her friends and join in with the fun things they do. Lexie did have a weekly personal training session to help build her muscles up however this was extremely hard for her as she felt exhausted and was in a lot of pain.”

As the sessions progressed with Harry, they worked on multiple ideas, tips and techniques for helping Lexie getting back to enjoying activity and most importantly enjoying time with her friends. Her Mum commented that meeting and chatting with Harry about his own lived experience of similar challenges made Lexie feel ‘connected’ and ‘boosted her confidence’.

One area they discussed was the importance of setting and completing goals, which supported one of Lexie’s favourite discussions, centred around the 5 Ways to Wellbeing (connect, be active, take notice, keep learning, give) and finding out ways she could implement them daily.

During her mentoring sessions, Lexie had a school residential trip looming, which she was nervous and reluctant to attend, due to the amount of physical activity planned. But Lexie went and when she returned home, she told her Mum that she completed not one activity, but all of them including zip lines, water rafting, wall climbing, axe throwing and much more! Lexie’s Mum said: “Lexie thoroughly enjoyed the trip and felt really proud of herself, and I was also so proud of her!”

We spoke with Harry about his sessions with Lexie, and he explained how he got so much out of their discussions and feels lucky to be in the position of mentoring these amazing young people.

“Lexie was a lovely, very chatty girl, who always smiled but was left frustrated, didn’t like going to hospital and wasn’t a big fan of physical activity because it is tough. However, with every call she was willing to try something new. We would sit and talk through the frustrations and look at how much she had achieved rather than what she hadn’t done. She continued to push herself more and should be extremely proud of herself because she has a very strong resilience!” Harry explained.

So, what has the change been in Lexie?

“Lexie is feeling so much better in herself and is proving how strong and resilient she is. Her confidence has increased, and she is more willing to give everything a go,” explained her Mum.

She also noted that having worked with Harry, the 11-year-old’s mental wellbeing has improved. Her mum now believes Lexie’s future can be as bright as she wants to make it. Since the sessions Lexie has been making small goals and really trying to stay positive.

Her health care team have also noticed the positive changes, Catherine Dunbar, Occupational Therapist at  Sheffield Children’s  added: “It was lovely to see Lexie in clinic recently after her One-to-One mentoring with Harry from Dame Kelly Holmes Trust.  It was clear she really enjoyed the experience and found the sessions helpful, particularly around building up her confidence.  She would recommend the sessions to others.”

Dame Kelly Holmes Trust’s One-to-One Mentoring Programmes put champions shoulder to shoulder with young people to help them in their recovery, for more info visit https://www.damekellyholmestrust.org/health-programmes