Sponsor a Heart Buddy Campaign!
Sponsor a Heart Buddy Campaign!
Heart Buddies is a new charity, set up by myself Chloe Rosamond, 3 years after I had my daughter Phoebe (who is in the attached video). Phoebe was born with Truncus Arteriosus, she had her first open heart surgery when she was just 5 days old and another at 12 days old. She was critically ill for 3 months in Great Ormond Streets Cardiac Intensive Care unit and during this time we were told Phoebe would need multiple open heart surgeries throughout her life. It was at this time I learnt there were currently no therapy bears to help explain to young children what happens during heart surgery and so I set about making one. I dissected a bear at phoebes bedside, armed with a red heart to go inside and a zip for its chest to demonstrate her heart scar. I fondly named the bear her ‘Heart Buddy’ knowing it would travel to appointments with her and be by her side throughout the toughest times in her life. The bear attracted a lot of attention from the medical profession, most stating how useful it would be for play therapy but others mentioned how much it would help a child feel comfortable about their chest scar and raise awareness to others. One day as I held her Heart Buddy in my arms, whilst Phoebe was in theatre, I realised how treasured these bears would be by parents. I knew these bears could provide a sense of softness to a clinical icu bedspace....and so the vision was born - 'One day I would set up a charity which provides a Heart Buddy to every young child awaiting open heart surgery.'
Heart Buddies is run by myself and 2 other Trustees, with one major thing in common: we all have daughters with Congenital Heart Defects and are all under the excellent care of Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital in London where our daughters, combined have so far endured 11 open heart surgeries...they are currently only 3, 4 and 8 years old.
Having each been through huge life transformations since we became heart mums, together we realise the importance of peer to peer support, not only for parents but for the children with CHD and their siblings. Most children are in hospital for around 1-2 weeks after major heart surgery, there is most often no time to meet others, or to form friendships. Heart Buddies will therefore be pioneering a Heart Buddy Mentor Scheme, whereby an experienced parent can volunteer to provide emotional support to a ‘newbie’ who is seeking support, experience or friendship from someone else who truly understands. For the children there will be a Penpal Scheme, whereby they can write to each other or send gifts, to another child of a similar age, going through a similar thing.
As an unregistered UK Charity, (we are currently in the process of registering with the Charity Commission but this can take up to 6 months) we can raise up to £5,000 per year. By doing this campaign, we hope to raise £5,000 which will pay for the first batch of Heart Buddy bears to be sent to Great Ormond Streets' Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (flamingo ward).
The bears will be given to every baby or young child who has open heart surgery, they can be used by play therapists, when preparing children for surgery and they will provide comfort and companionship to the children and their families. We plan to run Heart Buddy Cardiac clinics with the support of qualified play therapists whereby the bears will be invited to an appointment at the clinic and the children will participate in role play activities to treat the bear. This type of play therapy has been proven to hugely reduce fear and anxiety, as well as providing an opportunity to learn about what happens at an appointment and discuss their emotions by conveying how they think their bear is feeling.
A generous donation of £10 would sponsor one Heart Buddy bear to go to a baby or a young child who is about to have open heart surgery. These bears will really touch the lives of these little people who are born with broken hearts.
Together with your help we hope to raise crucial funds for children with CHD and their families so they never feel alone.
To find out more go to www.heartbuddies.org or email us [email redacted]
Thank you so much for your support, it means the world to us.
Love the three of us, Chloe, Tina and Klaudia (and on behalf of our very special little warriors, Phoebe, Orla and Freja). x x
