CHSF grant £10,000 to Eckersley House

We are thrilled to announce we have awarded a grant of £10,000 to Eckersley House ‘Home from Home’ run by The Sick Children’s Trust, thanks to your donations.

Eckersley House gives families with a seriously ill child at Leeds Children’s Hospital a place to stay just minutes from their hospital bedside, free of charge.

It is the latest in a series of substantial donations from CHSF, who have gifted over £550,000 to Eckersley House since 2010. Driven by our mission to support the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit at Leeds Children’s Hospital as a world-class centre of excellence, CHSF provides funding and resources needed to care for a patient’s heart, mind, family and future.

Heidi Watson, the CEO of CHSF said:

“Eckersley House has been a vital resource for our heart parents for well over a decade, providing them with respite and home-from-home facilities while remaining close by their poorly child.

 

One in 125 babies are born with heart disease in our region – often needing lengthy hospital treatment, and the whole family needs support during this period.

 

“A huge thank you to Jane McHale, all the team at Eckersley and the tremendous CHSF supporters for their hard work and commitment in helping to fund our latest donation.”

“We don’t know what we would have done without the support of CHSF and Eckersley House.”

Jane Featherstone, CEO of The Sick Children’s Trust, said:

“We are so grateful for yet another generous donation from Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, who have been wonderful supporters of Eckersley House over the past 13 years.

 

“We have a very close working relationship with CHSF, working in collaboration to support families of children with serious heart conditions being treated at Leeds Children’s Hospital.

 

“We often hear stories from those families about how much they appreciate the support they receive from both charities, and I hope that this continues for many years to come.”

One family that has been supported by the two charities is Adam Dale and Caley Flynn from Sheffield, whose baby son Alec was born 11 weeks premature at their local hospital in August 2022.

However, the diagnosis of serious heart condition saw Alec transferred to Leeds Children’s Hospital, more than an hour away from the couple’s home.

Adam and Caley said:

“We met Jane [McHale], the House Manager at Eckersley, and she was wonderful. She couldn’t do enough and sorted everything out for us. All the staff there were brilliant, and it was so homely.

 

“When Jane said that there was no financial cost for us, it was such a huge relief, a massive weight off my shoulders.

 

We didn’t need any help when we were in Sheffield, but we really did in Leeds, being so far away from home.”

“Children’s Heart Surgery Fund were also incredible for us, giving vouchers for food, providing toiletry bags and even to offering pay the cost of our fuel when travelling.

 

“What they have done to support the families of children with heart conditions in Leeds is amazing, and we cannot thank them enough. We don’t know what we would have done without the support of CHSF and Eckersley House.”

CHSF’s donation to Eckersley House, plus our own accommodation on Brotherton Wing, ensures that more parents can stay nearby while their child is being treated at Leeds Children’s Hospital. And we can only offer this with your donations.

It costs £30 for one night of family accommodation. 

Regular donations help us ensure respite in a hospital home-from-home for worried families, when they most need it.

For example, just £10 a month could pay for three nights of rest and support by the end of the year. Please help if you can.