Hospital Transport for Terminally Ill Children

Little Nevaeh lives with her mum Charmaine, and sisters Kyra and Trenae. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia when she was just two years old.

During her treatment, Charmaine and the girls had to travel to appointments using hospital transport, which was often late or simply failed to turn up. The whole family had to go along, as there was no-one else to look after Kyra and Trenae at home. Charmaine worried this transport was making Nevaeh more ill and that her other children weren’t receiving the right care or enough of her time.

Lyn, the family’s Rainbow Trust Family Support Worker made their lives easier by driving them to and from hospital. Her specially adapted car has seven seats, so the family could travel together comfortably for a change.

Lynn also provided important practical support for Charmaine during hospital appointments. She was an extra pair of ears to help Charmaine understand medical jargon, and helps her to ask the right questions when it got a little confusing. She would pick up Neveah’s medicines from the pharmacy and would collect the other children from school when Neveah had to stay in hospital for long periods of time, so that Charmaine could stay by her side. It meant that Kyra and Trenae could spend more time with their friends and take part in after-school activities.

Charmaine says, “Lyn was fantastic. She helped me remember questions to ask the doctors and collected Nevaeh’s medicines from the pharmacy so I never had to leave her side. The physical help was invaluable but the emotional help was so much more.”

“Lyn is a great support when I’m feeling emotional and all three of my children love her. We really could not have got through our journey without Lyn and Rainbow Trust.”

Happily, Nevaeh’s treatment was successful and she is now and healthy, happy eight-year-old. “I can't tell you how lucky we are. We were lucky enough to be put in touch with Rainbow Trust and more importantly, I still have my little girl. I will forever be thankful that we made it through that journey, and Lyn will always hold special place in our hearts.”

Every donation you make to Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity will support families like Charmaine’s, for whom the simple things make a huge difference for the whole family. Thank you. 

Krismia was three when she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). Krismia’s mother, Noreen, recalls when Krismia was first diagnosed: “It was very sudden. I got a call at work from my husband, Ephraim, asking what the lump was on her neck was. Our doctor arrange for some blood tests at the hospital and the results showed that she had leukaemia.”

The family, who are from Zimbabwe, had very little experience of cancer and it took Noreen quite a while to accept what was happening to her daughter. “I’d heard of cancer, but all I really knew about it was that people who have cancer die. She was only three, was fine one minute and then the next thing our whole life had just changed overnight”.

Krismia’s illness put a lot of pressure on the family and they were very stressed: “At first we didn’t know what was going on, what was going to happen. When Krismia was diagnosed on that Friday, the doctors wanted to start her treatment immediately and we ended up staying in hospital for the next two weeks. 

She was eventually discharged and had to go back to hospital 3 times a week for treatment. By this time, Noreen had given up work to look after Krismia and Ephraim had to take more time off to take her to hospital. Finances were massively strained.

Noreen says, “we still had our mortgage to pay and things were really tight. Sometimes we were struggling to feed ourselves. When you are in hospital 3 times a week, or when we had to go there for 2 weeks in a row as we had to a number of times, we couldn’t afford to eat there. The hospital provided meals, but only for Krismia. Noreen remembers this as a very lonely time for the family and they were almost at breaking point when they were referred to Rainbow Trust.

“We had no one to turn to for help. We didn’t know anyone and it was very hard. Our other daughter Kourtney was only one at the time. At first my sister was going to come from Zimbabwe to look after Kourtney so I could go with Krismia to hospital and Ephraim could work, but she couldn’t get a Visa. We then decided that we had no choice but to send Kourtney back to Zimbabwe to be looked after by relatives. I hated the thought of having to be that far away from my baby and for her not to have her mum and dad with her. But it was becoming our only choice. We felt so alone and I felt really down.”

The family were then referred to Rainbow Trust by the hospital, who told Noreen they could help with transport and emotional support. “As soon as we heard they could help us, we were desperate for them to start straight away. When Tori, our Family Support Worker, came, everything was alright.”

Tori would take Noreen, Krismia and Kourtney to medical appointments, allowing Ephraim to work and taking away all the stress of getting the train to hospital. “Tori made a huge difference to us, I don’t know what we would have done without her. She is great with the kids and they love her, they’re always asking ‘are we going with Tori’ when they hear the doorbell ring. She’ll also come to our house and play with the kids which lets me get some sleep.”

Krismia is now on maintenance which means she only has to go to hospital a couple of times each month and she is looking forward to starting school this year. Things are now a lot calmer at home but Noreen reflects that it could have been very different without Rainbow Trust.

“I honestly don’t even know where we would be without Rainbow Trust. I never thought I’d see Krismia play and be smiley again. Now when we have to go to hospital it is no longer stressful, in fact the girls look forward to it as they get to see Tori and spend time in her car. I guess you just don’t know what to do or how you will cope until you have Rainbow Trust supporting you.”