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Ramadan at paediatric outpatients
The paediatric outpatients waiting room is glowing with
brightly coloured pictures depicting Ramadan. Senior play
specialist Liz Wilkinson has been encouraging children who
visit the clinic to colour in and write about the festival, and
pasting the results into a vivid collage which has become a
talking point for young patients.
“We like to embrace every ethnicity, culture and religion
here. We value everybody’s diversity and send that message
from an early age. Doing this has really got the young Muslim
and non-Muslim patients talking to each other, sharing
experiences, and their parents have joined in too. We’ve all
learned so much from it: it’s been lovely to share the festival
with patients.”
Eid, which marks the end of the Ramadan fast, was
celebrated with a donation of Indian sweets from the Ambala
Sweet Centre in Drummond Street. “They were so generous”
says Liz. “They made up a beautiful box of sweets for us. And
the pistachio ones were to die for…”
Making chemo easier
The teenage cancer unit in T12 received an unexpected gift from the family of patient
Jonathan Yung, who died in the unit. Jonathan’s mother and aunt raised funds for three
hydration backpacks for young
chemotherapy patients.
“The patients have chemo on day one,
and post-hydration for three days
afterwards” said teenage chemotherapy
co-ordinator Abi Lee. “They can use the
backpacks so they can go off the ward and
don’t have to be tied to a drip stand. They
can go to the gym or out for breakfast.”
The family’s fundraising was so
successful—a total of £5,000—that as well
Jonathan’s grandmother Sybil Diamond,
aunt Penny Dymond, mother Jennifer Yung
and brother David Yung present gifts in his
memory.
as the backpacks they donated a
PlayStation, portable DVD players, and a
range of DVDs and games for the unit’s
activity room.
Legends launch the fight for life
England football legend Gary Lineker and leading hair-stylist Nicky Clarke this week
gave their support to a £2m appeal to improve cancer treatment for children (front page
picture). The duo were at UCLH recently for the dedication of a new PET CT scanner
which will be supported by the charity Fight for Life. UCH houses the largest
radiotherapy referral treatment centre for children in the UK: the scanner will help
revolutionise children’s cancer care. This will be the only centre with a dedicated
scanner of this type in the whole of the UK. The scanner costs £2m and the Fight for
Life is committed to funding its use over the coming years.
Gary Lineker, a patron of the charity since it was established, said: “I’ve been helping
this charity for a long time because it paves the way to save more children’s lives. My
son had leukaemia when he was a tiny baby. Luckily he didn’t have to have
radiotherapy but we knew a lot of kids at the time who did, and state-of-the-art
equipment like this gives them a chance of ultimately surviving. It is an amazing
department—it’s an eye opener, something beyond my comprehension but it is a
fabulous facility, and it is great to have been part of a team that has helped that come
to fruition.” Nicky Clarke, also a patron, said: “I think the fact that the charity is for
children is always going to be a major factor of its success. There is nothing more
satisfying than being involved with something like this—especially when you see the
kids go through the treatment. It helps them remarkably. The charity has saved a
number of lives: there is no doubt about that.”
Mrs Mahmood, whose son attends the clinic every week,
also appreciated the sweets and Liz's efforts. “We come on a
Thursday and Eid wasn’t until Friday, but Liz set aside some
sweets for him so he didn’t miss out. We’ve been coming to
the clinic for a long
time. There were no
activities for the
children when we
started coming, but
Liz has really
brightened things
up. She puts a lot of
effort into it. My son
really looks forward
to it now: he has a
snooker match with
Liz every time he
comes.”
A young patient celebrates Ramadan
T11’s midnight
garden
A corner of the playroom on T11
turned into a midnight eastern
garden when young patients worked
with resident artist Frances Newman.
Frances was funded by the Friends
of UCLH to run a series of art
workshops, encouraging children to
make artwork either independently or
with their parents. Much of the
artwork grew into a small interactive
installation for children and parents
to enjoy.
The workshops provided a wide a
range of art activities and positive
experiences and created an
atmosphere of fun and creativity for
children and parents to share.
“UCLH’s play specialist team
valued the presence of a trained
artist to implement art sessions as a
therapeutic way of helping children
to be distracted from their illness,
and staff, children and parents all
had a wonderful time,” says Cynthia
Burton of the Friends of UCLH.
A helping hand for the
eastern garden project
Don’t forget the festive open event - see back page for details.