Hospital Transport for Terminally Ill Children

Three year old Harvey has spent two years of his life undergoing chemotherapy. Anna, his mum, had a normal pregnancy and birth so thought nothing of the blister-like mark on Harvey’s knee. Sadly, when he was just three months old, tests and scans revealed that it was a cancerous tumour.

Harvey started an aggressive eight month course of chemotherapy and had times where his white blood cells were so low that he was prone to the slightest infection so taking Harvey to appointments in London via train and tube was harrowing for Anna and Andy, Harvey’s dad. Anna said, “I remember being in a lift at a station, with Harvey in the sling and being squashed. I just felt it was so wrong for him having all these people so close to him when he had nothing to fight with.”

The family was referred to Rainbow Trust just after Harvey’s diagnosis. Anna was struggling with transport to the weekly hospital appointments. She had tried catching the train and tube but felt it wasn’t safe for Harvey. She had also tried driving up but the journey was so stressful and taking a coach was just as difficult as the trains.

Jayne, a Rainbow Trust Family Support Worker from the Surrey care team, started supporting the family and took Anna and Harvey to his appointments up in London. She’d spend the day with them while they waited for treatment. “Some days we’d wait five or six hours for his treatment and on a few occasions, I burst into tears when they told us we’d need to wait even longer. The pressure just got too much but Jayne helped so much by being there. I could moan to her and get it out as I’m one of those people that needs to talk,” says Anna.

Andy is self-employed so when he was helping with trips to the hospital he lost out on income so Jayne’s transport support has made a huge difference to the family. It also means he knows that Anna and Harvey are safe and won’t be any more stressed that they have to be. Jayne also spends time with Anna talking through any concerns and issues.

“The practical support was so helpful. You can’t underestimate how stressful the day can be. After waiting all day for treatment, Harvey would be feeling poorly so the whole day was exhausting. Without Rainbow Trust, “we would have got through but it would have so much more stressful,” says Anna. Anna said, “You can’t take the [Rainbow Trust’s] support for granted. I find it hard to ask for help but Jayne has been brilliant and a huge help.”