Watch our full 2024 Christmas appeal video here.
Thanks to your donations, CHSF are able to provide a dedicated Family Support team who are able to help families of in-patients when they need it most.
This care is tailored to each individual family according to their needs and is often a mix of emotional, practical and financial assistance.
To illustrate the importance and value of CHSF’s bespoke family support service, here’s an incredibly moving account written by cancer patient and heart mum Louise, whose daughter Eliana is currently being treated at the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit:
“Time. Time becomes an entirely different commodity when you have a child with congenital heart defects. Your whole life revolves around thinking about time. When is the right time for surgery? How much time will we all have together as a family?
“How long will open heart surgery last? Will my boss give me time off work to be next to my child? These are one of many questions that go round and round your mind when you’re approaching a hospital stay with the person that is most precious to you in the world.
“For us, the timing of Eliana’s need for surgery meant that we were facing open heart surgery for her at the same time I am battling an aggressive form of cancer. There’s never an ideal time for surgery but this takes the biscuit!
“This time around (my husband) Richard is having to handle most of the in-hospital time and I am facing chemotherapy and immunotherapy without my family by my side and not being able to be with my little girl when she needed me the most.
“That’s where Children’s Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) have been our absolute lifeline. From the minute they found out about our situation, they have moved mountains to help us be together as much as possible. From the moment Eliana arrived on the ward, CHSF have been pivotal in keeping us all together and helping every aspect of our hospital stay.
“We have been so grateful to receive food vouchers for inside the hospital, Tesco vouchers to keep Richard fed while on the ward, a grant when we had been in hospital for 21 days and most importantly, they have managed to help us spend Christmas Day together.
“To our absolute astonishment, CHSF have booked accommodation that is wheelchair accessible, private and just around the corner from the hospital.
“Whilst undergoing Chemotherapy, I have to be so careful about public places as I am immunocompromised. Hearing that CHSF had paid for me to stay somewhere as private as possible so as to keep me safe but allow me to spend Christmas Day with my daughter and husband, means the world.
“How do you ever repay someone for that? How can you put into words what the kindness and generosity that an act like this means?
“I have been apart from my family for nearly 2 months now. 2 months without being next to my little girl who is my whole world. 2 months apart from my husband, trying to keep fighting my own battle and be there for them in theirs and vice versa.
“On every visit to the hospital I’ve been able to make, there has been a friendly face from CHSF checking in on us, making sure we have everything we need and giving us encouragement. CHSF aren’t just a charity, they’re a lifeline.
Eliana is so proud of her Katie Bear, which each child that has undergone open heart surgery will receive.
“Katie has been in to school to help her classmates understand her condition and been a way to get the children talking without being afraid. Now she has her second Katie Bear after 16 gruelling hours of surgery and she could not be prouder of herself and neither could we. It is a lovely, child centred gesture that gives patients comfort and pride in what they have been through.
“Usually the biggest worries at Christmas revolve around presents, meals, decorations etc but this year ours was “how can we possibly be together” and that puts everything into perspective. This year we owe everything to a charity who have found a way to make sure cancer and heart surgery haven’t kept us apart. Thank you so much CHSF.
“To anyone who has supported this charity in any way, please know that the families you help are forever in your debt. Life threw us a whole trolley full of lemons this year but thanks to CHSF and all who support it, we have managed to make lemonade.”
CHSF’s Family Support team are here to support families with whatever they need during their child’s hospital stay and beyond, and we can continue offering this service with your donations.
Please visit our JustGiving page and help grant this Christmas wish. Thank you!
Watch our full Christmas Wishes Appeal video, featuring lots of familiar faces – including staff, patients and families! Thanks to everyone who got involved!
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