A chair for each bed in the ICU at the WCH

Update!!!

We are so please to announce that we have reached our target!!! These funds will now go to the purchase of new chairs for the PICU unit at the WCH. If there are any additional funds we’ll work with the WCH Foundation to identify further areas of need, and direct these funds towards initiatives supporting children and families using PICU.

Both Harry and I are so grateful for all the support and donations and look forward to delivering the chairs to the PICU in the coming months. Thank you all again.

I would like to introduce you to this beautiful recliner chair in this photo. Its old, it smells a little, has a few lumps in the back rest, flips out quicker that you expect but it saved me last year and I’m on a mission to make sure other families can also feel the comfort that a simple chair can provide.

Last year our family was rocked when our son Harry at the age of 13 randomly contracted a very nasty Streptococcal Sepsis infection from what started as a simple flu. Sepsis is a bacterial infection that enters the blood stream and invades the body causing destruction without discrimination. It takes hold very quickly and is very nasty.

Within 2 days Harry went from having a the flu and sore throat at home to being admitted to ICU at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital with life threatening illness. As you can imagine as parents both Ben and I very distraught and not really sure what to do but we knew we couldn’t leave his side. The ICU teams of Drs and Nursing staff at the WCH were amazing and I am very thankful for the spectacular care they gave. For those of you that have been in an ICU unit you will know that they are confronting places and while the medical staff within these units are highly trained and great at what they do, sugar coating information is not high on their priority list. As a parent, you feel lost, helpless and I honestly still struggle to explain the horror of watching your child’s health decline so quickly. Without being dramatic our hospital system saved Harrys life and we will always be grateful for their care.

In the first few very intense days in ICU this humble chair was invaluable. It provided somewhere for Ben, myself or other family members to sit by Harry side every minute of this journey. From there we could feed him ice chips, scratch his itches and ensure when he did occasionally open his eyes he could see one of us with him. The chair was our comfort, it was big enough I could cover my face from Harry when I couldn’t hold back the tears, you could fit a device on the arm to have moment to escape the craziness and most importantly it was our bed, allowing for 30min nap between Dr visits without having to leave the room or Harry. While it was only a chair it helped us be there for Harry.

On day 2 when we left the room for a small time while Harry went for an MRI, I realised the chair was missing on our return. When I asked where it was gone, I was told by the nursing staff “we only have 5 chairs and another patient needed it”. While I was disappointed I looked up and there it was next door being used by mother whom was trying to breast feed her sick child. Obviously my want for the chair disappeared and I was content with the small plastic chair I was given instead.

For the next week while Harry progressed through the ups and downs of this horrible condition there was a continual swapping of chairs between rooms. As the 5 chairs were rationed between parents or patients that needed it most. There seemed to be an silent understanding between all parents within the ICU over whom needed them most. Even though every single person in the ICU was going through hell, no one argued or seemed to complain (maybe the nurses would say otherwise). There was the odd glance at 2 am in the morning from the parent in the next room… with a face that suggested “damn I would love to kick my legs out and get an hour sleep”…. And that is fair enough. And I am not ashamed to say I thought that at same times… but also understood that every parent and child in that ward was having one of the worst times of their lives.

In time these chairs also become an essential tool to assist us to get Harry out of bed occasionally and to help us begin to move his legs again, which was massive and integral step in his recovery.

After 12 long days in the ICU Harry was moved onto a ward to continue his recovery and while this meant Ben and I then had a small bench to sleep on (yay!) Harry was still largely immobile and we needed the chair to assist in getting him upright to avoid sores, in a position for us to help him move his legs, and help him go to the toilet etc... Unfortunately though it seems those 5 chairs in ICU where the only 5 chairs of its kind in the entire hospital. And while Harry’s needs were the number one priority I did always feel guiltily that Harry having this chair meant one less parent got to sleep next to their child each night. Harry had this chair for 4 weeks and this meant it left the ICU with only 4 chairs for potentially 12 sets of parents. Not a great ratio.

Fast forward a couple of months, many ups and downs, lots of support from our family friends and most importantly an incredible amount courage, patience, resilience and hard work by Harry we walked out of the hospital and made our way home. I was and still am so bloody proud of my son and the way he handled himself under such adversity.

It has been some time now but the memories of such a time will never leave me and I still think of our time and experience. When we return to the hospital for check-ups I can’t help but think about the children in the ICU and their families and consider what they are going through. While I’m not in a position to help them personally, I know that we as a community can do better to support these families. A simple chair might not directly help the child recover from their injury or find a magical cure for a rear disease they are fighting, but believe me when I say it will help. It will provide comfort when families need it most, and our families deserve this.

So I’m on a mission to ensure the ICU at the Adelaide Women’s & Children’s Hospital will one day have 12 chairs, one for each bed. Our family will be donating funds for two chairs to the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation, one chair in thanks for the care Harry was given and the other in memory of Kirsten Beames. Kirsten was a friends daughter whom over her life also spend a fair bit of time under the care of the medical teams at the WHC, but whom unfortunately lost her life to Sepsis late last year.

I am hoping that I can raise funds to contribute to the purchase of up to an additional 5, bringing the total to 12. Look in a perfect world we would also replace the old smelly, lumpy ones as they are old but they still work so let’s start with the goal of 5 and see how we go. Please note, I did ask the Hospital if there were any funds for additional chairs but was informed that as they are not essential for patients they were not currently on the list to be funded, which I appreciate… the priority for our health system should continue to be the patient…. So let’s leave the care of our children to the WCH medicals teams and I ask that you join me do our best to support the our families in need.

I have a go fund me page set up. All funds will go directly to the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation to contribute to the purchase of these chairs, including liaison with the Hospital to ensure they comply with all requirements. If you can help raise funds via any way it would be amazing. This doesn’t need to be you donating personally I am happy to hear any ideas to help us reach our goal so please reach out.

Just a quick update that the HAS foundation have generously donated funds to purchase a chair. The HAS foundation is a great organisation that does amazing work in this space, please check out their website, https://hasfoundation.org.au if you have time.

So we have reduced the goal to 11,520 and we are just about there. Thank you again to everyone that has supported this cause.