Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Helping others in name of Oscar
WHEN Hannah and David Cole took their little boy Oscar to hospital for the first time, they hoped it would simply be a shortlived stressful episode.
They never imagined that what was initially suspected to be a lingering bout of flu would take their son away for ever.
Oscar, who was only 16 months old, had contracted encephalitis, a rare condition that causes inflammation of the brain. He died on June 19, 2014, at the Oxford Children’s Hospital.
“We arrived in hospital on the Monday night and during the night his temperature spiked,” explains Hannah, 45. “We were in there for six days, and he was back in the following Monday.
“Viral inflammation of the brain meant that one day we had him and the next we didn’t. We couldn’t have been more shocked. It felt like being hit by a train.”
The sudden death of their beautiful little boy left his parents heartbroken – but desperate to do something to ensure Oscar’s memory lived on.
While still raw with grief, the couple – who have three other children, Holly, nine, Barney, four, and Leo, 21 months – founded the charity Thinking Of Oscar, which aims to help other families in the same harrowing situation.
Hannah explains: “It started off completely unashamedly that we wanted to carry on talking about Oscar, but you know instinctively that if you’re doing stuff to help others it makes you feel better. We wanted to turn something completely catastrophic into something positive.”
Hannah and David, who live in Kirtlington in the Cotswolds, both worked in the IT software sector, so decided to use their expertise in technology to help youngsters who find themselves in hospital.
“Most bereaved parents would go and solve the problem that affected their family, but we couldn’t do that because what happened to Oscar was so unlikely,” says David, 39.
He reveals that only 5% of NHS budgets go on under-18s, even though this group represents 20% of the population.
Hannah adds: “Because we both come from a tech background, we are really interested in the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform industries, and healthcare is absolutely ripe for that.
“For us, it’s super-exciting to think, ‘What if you can invest in AI to accelerate diagnosis or deploy digital technologies so that a child’s experience whilst in hospital is less stressful?’
“For example, how you distract an 18-month-old who is scared of needles could be by blowing bubbles, which costs 30p, but how you distract a 13-year-old could be through using augmented virtual reality.”
Their time in the children’s unit gave the couple an insight into where help was most needed. “We were fortunate in one way, in that Oscar did not spend a lot of time in hospital, but we could see an opportunity to make time spent in hospital a lot better,” says David. “Oscar had to have a lot of blood tests. It’s not a nice thing to see your child go through.
“It’s very easy to see a vein on an adult hand, but not very easy to see one on a stocky 18-month-old.
“Once they’ve used a vein, they can’t use that same vein for a certain period of time. They will literally shave a child’s hair to try to get in through the temple.”
This inspired the charity to invest in vein-finder technology, which assists doctors in finding a viable vein for children who require many blood tests and injections.
An infra-red light illuminates veins. The technology means doctors can find a vein first time, rather than having to try repeatedly, which causes distress for both the child and parents. Thinking of Oscar has already given assistance to hospitals in Manchester, Birmingham, Oxford and Sheffield. The charity also invested in an app for children with cancer, created by the father of a teenager who had the disease.
“Everyone was talking to her parents, but she was old enough and competent enough to understand,” explains David. “The app empowers children to make decisions or at least understand what’s going on.”
It is also funding research into an ultrasound system for children who have holes in their intestines, as well as a separate fellowship at Oxford Children’s Hospital.
The charity marked its fifth anniversary earlier this year with a 500-mile fundraising cycle ride.
The five-day event stopped at the children’s hospitals the charity supports, helping them hit £120,000 of their £500,000 target.
While nothing can bring Oscar back, his charity means that every day families around the country will be benefitting from medical advances made in his name.
To find out more or to make a donation, go to thinkingofoscar.com