Getting children out and about

Previously the Chelsea Children’s Hospital Charity, we re-launched as The Children’s Surgery Foundation in 2019 to reflect the national scope of our work today. The story below is from our days as the Chelsea Children’s Hospital Charity.

Children and their families in the High Dependency Unit at Chelsea Children’s Hospital are now able to enjoy some sort of normality in their lives.

Due to the severity of their illnesses and the size of the medical equipment which they rely on, some children in the HDU were unable to leave the ward at all. But when two-year-old William was a patient, mum Jo realised that a particular pushchair, the Bugaboo Donkey, could carry all of his vital medical equipment including his oxygen tank and feeding tubes. Jo said,

“Before we got the Bugaboo Donkey, William had never been outside. We now use it every day; he goes everywhere in it.”

Following Jo’s discovery, Chelsea Children’s Hospital Charity approached Bugaboo, who generously donated the £1,000 pushchair to the ward. Ward sister, Anna Miles says, “This is really great news for our families, who can now go for proper walks outside the hospital.” Dad Kapil agrees. “The Bugaboo has helped us a lot. It lets us leave the hospital, making our son Arnabh free to go and enjoy the outside world despite all his complex equipment. For Arnabh’s first birthday we went to the zoo in Battersea Park. We all enjoyed the lovely weather and Arnabh liked the monkeys jumping around! We hope our experience will give other parents confidence to take their children out of the confined space to explore the beautiful and amazing things outside.”