Hospital Transport for Terminally Ill Children

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.”