Jack's Story

At Rachel House in May 2023, we met a young man called Jack. Jack was 17, non-verbal and required a lot of support for his care, but was able to slowly move one arm towards people and objects. He had been in hospital quite a lot over the previous few months and he and his family had come to Rachel House for some respite on their way home. Staff weren’t sure how Jack would be with us – the last few months had been difficult for him and his family. On this particular Wednesday, Dr Spritely and Dr Squash were very excited to meet him. Here’s how the visit went….  

“The Clowndoctors arrival began with Spritely on the ukulele and Squash singing and improvising behind her – until he bumped into the bedroom door. Squash began shouting in pain, and Jack began to smile, so Squash shouted more, and Jack smiled more. Spritely and Squash tried to come in the door again – and Squash bumped into the door and shouted in pain again. Jack laughed, Squash shouted more, and Jack laughed more. The Clowndoctors tried to come in again. And again. Each time Squash hit the door, he shouted in pain and Jack laughed. The more painful the shout, the more Jack laughed. Finally Spritely and Squash made it into the room and were able to introduce themselves to Jack.   

After the hellos and music, Spritely stood at the bottom of the bed playing the ukulele while Squash moved closer to Jack. Jack’s hand seemed to be beckoning Squash over, and ever so slowly, Jack lifted his arm towards Squash’s head and flipped Squash’s nose. Eruption from Squash and Spritely, shock that the nose had been flipped and the Clowndoctors ran around the room shouting in disbelief, with Jack belly-laughing at the reaction to his flipping. Spritely required Squash to do it again, just to check, and so Squash gently explained to Spritely what he had been doing, moving closer to Jack, and – flip – his nose was flipped again by Jack and the Clowndoctors ran around the room shouting in amazement, surprise and disbelief. But Spritely required to see it again and again. The game was repeated until it was decided Spritely should see what happens to her if she gets too close to Jack. As Spritely leaned in (all the while yabbering away to Squash) Jack slowly, with great anticipation, moved his hand towards her nose to surprise her and – flip – Spritely’s nose was off as well! More shouting and running, with Jack belly laughing.   

The Clowndoctors brought out a sponge red nose for dad to see if the same thing would happen to him, and true enough, Dad got close to Jack and Jack flipped the nose right off dad’s face, and then Spritely, Squash and Dad ran around in circles shouting! Mum was not left out though, and the final test was to see if mum’s nose would be flipped also. She leaned in, Jack lifted his arm, slowly, slowly, and off with mum’s nose! And then running round in circles to lots of laughter from Jack.   

The following week Jack was home and the Clowndoctors were able to visit Jack and his parents online. Mum and Dad were ready with their red noses. Spritely was with McFlea this time, and explained to McFlea that if you lean in something happens. Spritely leaned in towards the camera, Jack reached towards the camera at home, and – flip – Spritely’s nose was off and away she went running round the room. Jack was laughing at the slapstick as both Spritely and McFlea put their noses to the camera to be flipped, and Jack was able to flip mum and dad’s noses at home.”  

Below the surface, the minds of the Clowndoctors are always watching, reacting and planning the next clown move. As Spritely and Squash approached the bedroom, they are already looking for reactions to the music from Jack and can see he’s listening. Squash bumps into the door to surprise him, and they could immediately see that Jack enjoyed this. As Squash shouted in ‘pain’, he is also watching Jack’s reactions and could see that the more painful it sounded the more Jack smiled and laughed. This is what the Clowndoctors want to encourage – positive reactions and laughter – so they repeat the game. Bump into door, painful shouting, laughing from Jack. They see the anticipation in Jack’s face as Squash comes towards the door, his excitement when Squash crashes and the laughter from the painful noises. When they finally enter the room, the Clowndoctors want to find a new game with Jack, and both Spritely and Squash notice Jack’s arm movements and make a decision that this will influence the next game with him. The decision isn’t made verbally, it’s through years of experience, training and working in Clowndoctor partnerships. This internal decision moves towards working out how to empower Jack’s movement and give him agency over the visit. Clowndoctor visits are never passive, the child or young person is always at the heart of the visit and an integral part of what happens. Squash begins to move closer, behaving like he’s completely distracted but knowing that Jack is going in for the nose, and both Clowndoctors already know that Jack likes a big reaction. Jack flips the nose, and Spritely and Squash run around, reacting big to this action he has made. His reaction then informs if the Clowndoctors do it again. Jack is laughing, so the game is repeated again, and again. Jack gets the opportunity to control the game, to be the instigator in making things happen, and controlling the Clowndoctors. All of this together means a positive, joyous visit in which Jack is centre stage.  

Jack passed away in September 2023. It was a pleasure to meet him and his family.