Helen House started, appropriately enough, with a sick little girl called Helen and a nun who wanted to help.

Sister Frances Dominica, then mother superior at the All Saints Sisters of the Poor convent in Magdalen Road, East Oxford, and a qualified children's nurse, received a phone call one day from a young woman whose two-year-old daughter was critically ill.

Sister Frances recalled: "She had just had surgery to remove a brain tumour and was very ill. She remained in hospital for six months and a friendship developed between Helen's family and myself and I visited as frequently as I could."

But Helen did not get better and six months later, the family found out she would not recover.

Sister Frances said: " I asked if they would trust me enough to look after her sometimes and that was how it began.

"I was providing a sort of safety net and soon I began to wonder whether there were other families out there and whether it would be possible to extend that friendship and practical support that I had given to Helen's family."

The idea of Helen House was born and Sister Frances and a small group of people launched a huge fundraising campaign in February 1980 - the aim being to build the first ever children's hospice.

Such was the support of the local community, who rallied round with event after event, that by October 27, 1981, Helen's younger sister, Catherine, laid the foundation stone of the hospice which was to bear her elder sister's name and it opened its doors for the first time on November 15, 1982.

Sister Frances said: "Helen's parents were the most important people in planning what was to be Helen House.

"The model was home, both architecturally and in ethos. We knew right from the start that however well-qualified anyone working in Helen House was, the parents would be the real experts."

Helen House was built with eight children's bedrooms, two for emergencies - and while additional facilities, including four family flats and therapy rooms have been built onto the hospice, the number of bedrooms has remained the same.

Sister Frances said: "It needed to be small so we could offer flexibility and one-to-one care."

Original head nurse Edith Anthem led the team for 11 years - with Sister Frances always providing support and back up for the whole operation.

Helen House cared for children with life-shortening conditions, and their families, treating each child as an individual and tailoring the care to their needs.

Other children's hospices began to spring up - but soon Sister Frances discovered there was a gap for young adults.

She said: "There was a point where there were 27 people over the age of 20 and one of those was 28 and 6'2" tall.

"Over the years many people had come to us saying they wanted to start another children hospice and we would usually ask if they would consider the next range up - but nobody did.

"So having failed to persuade anyone to look at the needs of young adults we decided to look at it ourselves."

Douglas House was opened in 2004 by the Queen and was the world's first hospice specifically for young people between the ages of 16 and 40.

Sister Frances said: "In a way I think it is easier to be involved than to be an onlooker.

"After 25 years I have fewer answers to the big questions than I ever had, but I do believe it is important to walk the walk with people, journey with them through the ups and downs as long as you are welcome.

"It has to be the right person at the right time but hopefully someone here might be that person."