Cash will help pain go away for children
CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL NEEDS HELP TO BUY DISTRACTION UNITS
SEEING your child sick or in pain is every parent’s worst nightmare.
For many families at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital that sight, that feeling of uselessness, is an every day occurrence.
The hospital cares for some of the region’s sickest youngsters, many of whom are frightened by what is happening to them, and of the environment they are in – the needles, the machines, the medicine.
That’s why this year, RMCH charity bosses are asking for your help to take that fear away.
This Christmas, instead of donating toys, the charity is asking for cash towards funding 10 3D Pain Distraction Units, designed to immerse a child in a colourful world of virtual reality that distracts them from pain and blocks out the frightening sights and sounds of the treatment room.
Four-year-old Charlie Bircher is one young patient who would really benefit from the technology.
Both he and his big brother Archie, seven, have a rare genetic condition called Cleidocranial Dysplasia.
Charlie catches chest infections really easily, and because of this two years ago doctors fitted him with a special portal on his chest called a port-a-cath, so they can inject lifesaving drugs directly into his body.
Living with the port-a-cath isn’t easy and Charlie doesn’t always like people seeing or touching it. Yet every nine weeks he comes to hospital to have medicine injected into it.
Charlie’s mum Lauren, from Cheadle, believes the Pain Distraction Units would make a huge difference to the youngster’s hospital experience.
“He is an incredibly brave little boy – but some days the fear and anxiety can be overwhelming for him,” she said.
“There’s nothing worse than seeing your child in distress or pain.
“And it’s especially difficult to see them stressed-out, fighting off a treatment or medical procedure that needs to be done. That’s why I think something like this could make a huge difference to Charlie’s experience at hospital.”
Each Pain Distraction Unit costs £12,000 and the charity’s One Big Wish this Christmas is to raise enough money to put one on each of the hospital’s in-patient children’s wards, including the childhood cancer ward, burns unit, cardiology, bone marrow transplant ward, and in our paediatric emergency department and high dependency unit.
Sarah Naismith, head of Charities at RMCH said: “They are clinically proven to make patients feel calmer. This means the doctors and nurses can do their jobs more effectively.”
To donate, visit www.rmchcharity. org.uk/one-big-wish.