Family of three-year-old with severe heart conditions create new cafe and community hub to help others

Lee Nicholson and partner Tori Hetherington with children Nate, 3 and Reid, 23 months, in the new Bee Bees Cafe

Bee Bee’s Coffee House in Concord was opened by Tori Hetherington and Lee Nicholson with the aim of reaching out to the community and becoming a hub for the area, and the inspiration behind it all was their three-year-old son Nate.

Nate was born with a number of complex heart and lung issues, meaning at some point in his life he will require a heart transplant.

Nate’s parents Tori and Lee struggled to cope in the early years of his life and found they had nowhere to go for support during a difficult time and wanted to change that.

Lee Nicholson and partner Tori Hetherington with child Nate, 3 in the new Bee Bees Cafe

Tori said: “We found that when we went through everything we didn’t really get any emotional support. We started thinking others might not be getting support either and we wanted to change that.”

The coffee house, which opened in October, now features a new community room to host various groups such as toddler sessions and inter-generational groups, making sure everyone has somewhere to go.”

Tori and Lee have plans to grow even more next year, possibly expanding into also becoming a nursery.

Tori added: “This small idea has snowballed and got bigger and bigger, the more people we speak to the more ideas we get in how we can help the community. The response has been really positive.”