Health hero who made young patients smile again

GOOD Health is often the place where the unsung heroes of our hospitals and beyond get the recognition they deserve. And in 2014, we met the inspirational woman who helped young cancer patients smile again. Dedicated hospital worker Bianca Effemey has devoted her life to helping sick children, including fundraising as AMANDA CABLE reported . . . April 22, 2014

HALFWAY into his chemotherapy for testicular cancer, 15-year-old Ed Scott fell into a deep depression. The fight seemed to have gone from him, recalls his mother Jo.

‘It was just awful to see him so low,’ says Jo.

‘He’d always been so brave and upbeat, but he was terribly sick from the chemo, he’d had a testicle removed, lost his hair, and while his friends were dating and going to parties, Ed felt really down.

‘He was too exhausted and too nauseous even to watch TV. He just lay in his hospital bed in dark despair.

‘I understood totally — but I felt utterly helpless.

‘The doctors were worried about his despondency, too. They said he needed all the fight he had to cope with the chemotherapy.

‘But Ed told me he just wanted to rip out his drips and walk out of the door.’ Jo herself was under unbearable strain.

The overwhelming anxiety about her son, compounded by a house move and trying to maintain a normal life for two daughters at home, aged 13 and five, meant she and husband Tom spent shifts in the hospital, passing only in their cars.

Late one night, she picked up the phone and rang Bianca Effemey.

A former hospital receptionist, Bianca often works with as many as 200 families at a time.

Much of that support is practical: thanks to her relentless fundraising she’s collected enough money for a holiday home where families can take vital breaks, as well as paying for days out.

But perhaps more important is the emotional support. For while at night she runs her charity, by day she works at a hopsital as a parent supporter.

She contacts every family who arrives at the paediatric unit at the hospital with their newly diagnosed child, giving out her number for them to call day or night.

‘When I rang Bianca, I told her how worried I was about Ed, and how the nurses and doctors were very concerned, too,’ says Jo.

‘The next day, she turned up and talked to him.’

Jo added: ‘Bianca stepped in to provide unstinting support during the lowest moments for all of us.

‘She was the one person who saw behind the forced smile painted across my face.’