To show the importance of a helpline dedicated to answering the questions that nobody else can answer to a public that may avoid the highly emotional topic, we worked together with a terminally ill child, Sebastian, and arranged an innovative live experience during one of Germany’s most popular call-in radio-shows.

On World Hospice Day, Sebastian, called in live to ask his tragic question:

"Why is God allowing me to be so ill …

… and letting me die?"

The radio host was rendered speechless, and after a shocking 12-seconds of silence on live radio we provided the message:

"When others fall silent... We are here with answers.

The Children's Hospice Helpline 0800-8888-47-11

Support us with your donations at Bundersverband-Kinderhospiz.de”

The call-in radio-show medium allowed us to demonstrate the unanswerable questions and difficulties that terminally ill children and their families struggle with relevantly and poignantly like no other media could.

We worked together with Sebastian, a terminally ill child and his family, to create an experience that would appear on live-radio during one of Germany’s most popular call-in radio-shows.

Sebastian was able to ask the host his tragic question, one of many questions that terminally ill children and their families ask.

Cooperating with radio stations, we arranged for Sebastian’s call to occur seamlessly before the ad-break, and used the first slot of the ad-break to broadcast the final message. For maximum impact the experience happened during the show with the channels highest listenership.

Dead Air communicated the tragedy and uncertainty that terminally ill children and their families experience to the public through a conversation that those families frequently encounter, and their struggles to resolve it.

The 12-seconds of silence, tragically and efficiently showed how necessary the Children’s Hospice helpline is in providing professional help and answers to those in need.

Donations to the Bundesverband Kinderhospiz increased 300% immediately after the experience aired.

Sebastian’s call caught the attention of the German Federal Government who subsequently posted the experience to their official Facebook page.

There it ignited an important discussion and gained a huge following, even gaining the support of influential figures such as, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Traffic to the Oskar Helpline website increased by approximately 800%