Updating the family room in Waddington ward

The Waddington ward at Kings college hospital is mainly used for drug trails for cancer patients, which helps future cancer patients go into remission. Due to all the trails happening on the ward there are a lot of visiting restrictions and very limited access to see your loved ones. This means that the family room is used a lot to allow more relatives in to see their loved ones and to give good or bad news to the families about the treatment.

In February my dad got diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia and was given the option to go onto the drug trail as regular chemotherapy would not put him into remission. After many tests and appointments with the drug trial team at kings my dad was admitted to Waddington ward in August to start on the trial.

All the staff made my dad as comfortable as possible and would go the extra mile to make sure he had everything he needed. During the treatment my dad got very ill so we would go up and see him in the relative’s room as we were restricted on how many people could go in at a time. The room has 2 sofas which are very old and worn, the walls are bland, and the TV doesn’t work. As this is the room lots of families go for comfort after been given a diagnosis it is very cold and not welcoming.

Unfortunately, we got told in October that the treatment wasn’t helping my dad as he kept getting infections and would have to keep stopping the treatment to help fight the infection. After we got told he would have weeks to the live the nurses ensured he had everything he needed at home and went the extra mile to make sure he was comfortable.

Due the fantastic support from the team on Waddington ward we all received we would like to give back to them to show our gratitude for all the hard work they had been doing. After speaking with them we have decided to raise money so we can help upgrade the room, so it is more comfortable and usable for the families in the future.

The money raised will go towards a new TV, water dispenser, new sofas, and some decorations to make the room more inviting.

Thank you in advance for any contribution you make, and we will keep you updated once the furniture is bought and in place on the ward.