Hi, my name is Danielle Grant and I am a Staff Nurse on the Bone Marrow Transplant and Stem Cell/Gene Therapy Unit at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

Our unit specialises in providing treatment for patients with severe and life-threatening blood and immune system disorders, such as leukaemia, blood cancers, Mucopolysaccharidosis, Sickle Cell Disease, and Metachromatic Leukodystrophy.

The children undergo a schedule of chemotherapy, followed by their transplant or stem cell/gene therapy. We then look after them following this, nursing them back to health until they are ready to go home. This process can have complications, and the length of stay can vary from child to child, with some children leaving in as little as a couple of months, to some children staying for over a year. Children are nursed in strict isolation, in single rooms/cubicles that they are unable to leave as they are immunosuppressed and susceptible to contracting infections that can make them extremely unwell. This can often be difficult for our kids, as they cannot see family/friends and can only have a select few named visitors. Being isolated in a room for months at a time can be lonely and often boring.

Today, I am fundraising for our ward’s prize box and birthday fund. We rely heavily on charitable donations and are struggling to get what the kids need. Firstly, I am hoping to raise money for the prize box. Children are given a prize when they undergo procedures that are often painful, such as receiving a cannula, injection, or having a feeding tube inserted. The prize box would ideally be filled with a range of small and inexpensive token gifts that the children can select. Examples of these include colouring books, craft items, toy cars, play doh, fidget toys, and slime.

I am also hoping to raise funds for the kid’s birthdays. As the kids are with us for such a long time, they often spend their birthdays on the ward in isolation. This can be a difficult time for both children and their families, but we try to make it special by decorating their room, supplying a cake, and giving them wrapped gifts. At present, birthday giftables are very limited on the ward and we have recently had to go searching last minute for something suitable from other wards. It would be a massive relief if we already had a selection of gifts for different ages and interests that we could choose from to make the kid’s birthdays a bit more special.

We would deeply appreciate any donations you can make toward our fundraiser—every contribution helps us move closer to our goal. Your support means the world to us and makes a real difference in the lives of the children on BMTU.

Thank you