‘You’re not alone’

Throughout this week we’ll be sharing stories from around the business to highlight our inclusion campaign - Altogether Different.

Antony Appleby is a senior field industrial engineer with the Efficiency and Costings team. He is also a member of our Parents & Carers steering group.

‘I have worked for Royal Mail for more than five years now and I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to a few mail centres, regional distribution centres and delivery offices, so some of you may have seen or know me.

‘What people won’t know, however, is that I am also a carer for my son, Oliver, who has a rare heart condition called hypo plastic left heart syndrome. This basically means that the left side of his heart did not develop properly before birth.

‘He has had three open heart surgeries from the age of just two days old up until he was around six. He is in palliative care now as there is no cure for his condition other than a full heart transplant, and each day is a mental battle not knowing how long he has left.

‘As I’m sure other carers will understand, fitting work around his trips to the hospital (we live in Sheffield but must travel to a specialist unit in Birmingham) local blood tests and doctors’ appointments means that we as a family, when possible, must plan our way through each day or month to balance our work and family life.

‘I’m sure I am not alone as a carer in doing this within Royal Mail, but I wanted to highlight my story during this week’s Inclusion Week to hopefully reach out to colleagues in a similar position to say that they’re not alone with these struggles. Behind our “work face” we all have personal lives that can affect us in different ways and it’s important to understand that many of us have day-to-day struggles.

‘Oliver is now 13, and as good as he can be. I still have a daily tick box in my head when I wake him each morning of, one, is he breathing, two, remember his daily medicines, and three, love each day and remember that things could be worse. As mentioned above I know that many colleagues will also be going through their own trials and tribulations but I wanted to reiterate, “remember - you’re not alone”.

Watch our video below to hear more on what it feels like to be included.

Parents & Carers

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Many of our people balance parental and caring responsibilities with their career. Our Parents & Carers steering group advocates for carers and offers support to those who need it.

We aim to help colleagues with caring responsibilities balance these duties with their day-to-day working life. We can help direct you to where you can obtain support with formal flexible working requests and approvals as well as advice on the types of flexible working available.

Please visit the steering group homepage to read more about the work the group is doing, and access a range of resources available to support you if you are caring for others.

If you would like to share your story, learn more or get involved, please contact us at parents.and.carers@royalmail.com.