'We'll make Christmas magical for kids in hospital' - behind the scenes at Glasgow's Sick Kids

Every corner of Glasgow’s Children’s Hospital will be filled with festive fun this Christmas Day, thanks to the dedicated team of play specialists, doctors, nursing staff and parents determined to make things merry and magical for the young patients.

Thomas Graham – cheeky, inspirational seven-year-old with a smile that can light up a room - knows the score. This is his FOURTH Christmas in hospital.

His mum, Dana Goudie, explains: “Thomas has a spinal cord injury which means he is paralysed from the neck down and has a ventilator and tracheostomy. He came in the day before his fourth birthday in 2017 and spent a year and a half in intensive care.

She smiles: “He is an inspiration. He has coped so well and that’s down to the staff here. They become your family.

“When he came in at first he was a scared wee boy. He can’t eat food normally, but he likes to taste things, so they came up with tasting games and messy play and all sorts. They even gave him a teddy with its very own tracheostomy and neck brace. If he has to have an operation or procedure, teddy gets it too, and the staff take time to make him feel happy and reassured about what’s happening to him..”

Thomas developed meningitis when he was nine days old.

“It was a frightening time,” recalls Dana. “Afterwards he had trouble sitting up independently, and couldn’t hold his head up. Then, just before his fourth birthday, he became very ill and was rushed to hospital where they told us he had this injury.”

“It was a shock. No-one knows whether it was something that had been there since birth, or if it was caused by the meningitis – we just don’t know.”

Dana, who is from Ayr, gave up her job as a nursery teacher to spend every moment she could with her son.

“He is my priority, my whole life ,” she says, firmly. “I moved in to the Ronald McDonald House, which allows parents to stay near their children and I have been there ever since, just going up and down to home to get what we need. It’s an amazing place. I don’t know what I would have done without it.”

Thomas can’t wait for Christmas, says his mum.

“We’ll spend the day together, open some presents – he loves trains, cars, anything with wheels – maybe go outside into the fresh air if the weather is good,” she adds.

“The thing about this place is that you make friends who are with you through it all. No-one understands what it’s like to have a child in hospital long-term, except those who are going through it with you. You can cry and rant to them and it will be fine.”

There is good news on the horizon for Thomas and Dana.

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“We’re working on a care package that will allow Thomas to come home, get to school, start to have a bit of normality,” says Dana. “It will mean a lot of support, but I’m hopeful it will happen soon.”

She smiles: “The hospital is a wonderful place at Christmas – but I want this to be the last one we spend here. I want to get my son home.”

Play service manager Claire Kennedy is in charge of a 24-strong team of play specialists and youth workers who arrange activities for young patients, entertaining, supporting and helping those who are in hospital long term to meet milestones through developmental play.

“We hope we can make their stay here as fun as possible, take their minds off what’s happening to them,” she says. “It can be tough at times, but there is always a lot of hilarity, a lot of laughter.”

There are difficult days, too, she admits. Helping families and reassuring anxious children fearful of treatments or procedures takes a great deal of skill and resilience from a dedicated team.

“There are tougher cases, of course, it is never easy to deal with the loss of a young patient, but our team is very experienced, and we support each other,” says Claire.

“Our job is not to give bad news, but instead to be there for children anxious about their hospital stay, to lighten the situation and give parents a break.”

Christmas 2020 at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children will be different, but no less joyful, she adds.

“We are pulling out the stops – and all the kids and families have been so amazing this year, in the face of many challenges,” she says. “It will be a lot of fun.”

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Lyndsey Pederson, senior charge nurse on ward 2c, has worked in children’s nursing for 23 years.

“It is a wonderful, rewarding, tough job,” she smiles. “We have an amazing team here, many of whom will be leaving their own families to work at Christmas.

“We try to get as many children home as possible of course, but for those who are still here, we want to make it as magical and as Christmassy as we can.

“The resilience shown by these children is incredible. Of course they are sad still to be here, but they just get on with it.”

Normal festive plans have had to be shelved, partly, says Lyndsey.

“It has been a tough year, and we won’t be able to do quite as much as we could normally do – the biggest challenge for parents of course, is that extended family are generally not allowed to visit,” she explains. “That’s hard, especially at this time of year.”

One extra visitor will still be allowed in, of course.

“Oh yes, Santa will be here,” she laughs. “He will be allowed in to deliver presents on Christmas Eve, and it will be magical.”