Stamford Hospital nurse who owns Bumbles Cakes Emporium joins Cakes for Heroes team

A nurse with a passion for baking will be supporting ill children by brightening up their birthdays.

Tami Brown, who works at Stamford Hospital, has jumped on board to help the Cakes for Heroes team, a not-for-profit organisation offering free birthday cakes to seriously ill children.

She will assist them behind the scenes, as well as offering her baking services.

Tami, 48, said: “The charity cannot make these children better or take away their pain but they can help to create an everlasting memory by providing a bespoke cake from one of our team.

“Since its launch, Cakes For Heroes has recruited more than 1,000 bakers across the UK and I am one of a small number in this area.”

Cakes for Heroes is the brainchild of Joanne Howard from Hull, after she experienced first-hand struggles that can face families. Her son Jacob was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia when he was only five years old.

During her son’s five-year battle, Joanne realised it was the brief moments of normality, such as a special birthday cake, that helped keep the family positive and united.

Tami said: “This is something I have wanted to do for a long time so it’s been special to be able to do something to help poorly children.

“When I came across this new group I thought that it’s doing an amazing thing.”

Tami had made cakes for her own children, now 17 and 20, and for the children of friends, before being contacted by more and more people wanting to make use of her baking and icing talents.

“In the past 18 years I’ve got back into it,” she said. “It’s just practice and watching lots of YouTube videos.”

Juggling cake-making, working at Stamford Hospital, and being a mother-of-two makes Tami’s life very busy.

She said: “It requires careful planning. I’m always a very busy person anyway, I never sit still.”

Tami is excited to be able to start rolling out the Cakes for Heroes scheme to children up to 17-years-old in this area, and encourages other bakers to get involved.

Parents or guardians can nominate a child to receive a cake for their birthday via www.cakesforheroes.co.uk.