A HEARTRENDING TV advertising campaign has been launched by Martin House Hospice to highlight the loss facing parents of terminally ill children.

TV presenter Angela Rippon offered her services free to do the voiceover in the advert for the Boston Spa hospice.

It explores the emotion a parent suffers when they lose a child through illness. The video was recently given its national premiere at a special fundraising dinner in Leeds.

A 50-strong crew were involved in making the commercial and have all worked for "at cost" fees or completely donated their fees back to Martin House.

At special test screenings, seven out of ten viewers were reduced to tears by the poignant, but simple messages portrayed in the film. The final version will be aired nationally and at the Leeds International Film Festival later this year. Steve Dixon, creative director at Propaganda, who created the advert said: "Every parent has had the feeling of sheer panic when they lose their child, even if it's just for a few seconds. We wanted to try and capture the essence of what it is like to lose a child through illness and how little reminders means that the loss never goes away. We hope to prompt people into thinking what it would feel like if they had to deal with that kind of tragic loss on a permanent basis."

Maureen Burns, fundraising manager for Martin House, said that historically, children's hospices had a low profile policy because of the sensitive nature of their work.

"This is the first commercial that we have ever commissioned. Following our appeal launch for a new teenage unit in February 2001 we realised we had to raise our profile regionally and promote the work of Martin House beyond our existing, dedicated support base."

Updated: 11:58 Wednesday, May 08, 2002