The Children's Hospital Charity & The Sick Children's Trust.

On Sunday 6th October, a small group of Symphony employees will be walking from The Symphony Group to Sheffield Children's Hospital (SCH), raising money for two important charities. The Children's Hospital Charity, via Oliver's memory meadow, and The Sick Children's Trust. All money raised will be split 50/50 between both charities.

Organised by George Burtoft and Emma Watson, both have personal experiences with these charities and as a company we want to raise money so they can help many more children and families in need.

The walk is approximately 20 miles long, and will take us from Manvers near our Barnsley HQ, along the TransPennine trail to Meadowhall shopping centre, and then into the centre of Sheffield up to The Sheffield Children's Hospital.

The real reason we’re taking on this challenge –

Emma's story of Oliver Howe:

Meet Oliver.

In the September of 2020, my 6 year old nephew woke his mum and dad up saying his brain was hurting. Soon after that, things went downhill, and he was rushed to Sheffield Children's Hospital. Tests found a bleed on the brain with a big and aggressive tumour. He underwent nearly 10 hours of emergency surgery and 80% of the tumour was removed. The hospital saved his life that day. Over the course of the coming year, Oliver underwent high isolation chemotherapy and radiotherapy and the following July we were fortunate enough to watch Oliver ring the bell. This was an amazing day that our family will never forget!

Sadly, 11 months later Oliver got poorly once again, and we were told the devastating news that the tumour was back and the cancer was terminal. All we knew was that Oliver was the bravest boy around and no matter how much time he had; every day would be cherished. Due to the care the hospital gave to Oliver and his family, he was able to spend time with his family, see Christmas, visit some of his favourite places and see those he loved. Oliver peacefully passed away on 1st February 2023 aged 8 with his mum and dad by his side.

I was working when I got the phone call about Oliver's passing and I will always be grateful for the love and support I was given by my colleagues. 18 months has passed and he is still a big part of my life. Our superhero Oliver loved that we started fundraising in his honour right from the start of his cancer diagnosis. We continue to do lots of fundraising as a family and Oliver now has a memory meadow as part of the Charity. Money raised for Sheffield Children's Hospital will be donated via the meadow in his honour, but please know, the money raised goes to all areas of the hospital. For which it is the best place for children who need short and long term medical care.

One thing I will always remember about Oliver - his smile. All the way through his 2 years of treatment, he smiled every single day. #Forever8 #TeamOliverHowe

George’s story of Lana:

Meet Lana, my first born, one day old.

My beautiful baby girl arrived on Friday 13th October 2023. After a settled first three weeks at home, Lana developed a persistent cough. Her mum and I took Lana to A&E on three separate occasions where she was having large coughing bouts and struggling to breathe, it was difficult to see our small baby looking so weak. We were told she had a common cough and that it would pass, but this still didn’t feel right to us. We decided to take her to Sheffield Children's Hospital who quickly diagnosed her with Pertussis – ‘Whooping Cough’.

Lana was admitted to the High Dependency Unit where she received round the clock care from a group of incredible nurses. Unfortunately, her condition worsened. She had daily occurrences of coughing attacks and turning blue due to the lack of oxygen in her body. This was hands down, the scariest time of our lives. We were fortunate to be provided with a room by The Sick Children's Trust. This additional facility gave us a bedroom, shower & kitchen facilities so we could take turns to rest and maintain our personal hygiene. This made our experience a lot easier than it could’ve been and allowed us to stay close to our baby instead of making the long drive to and from the hospital every day.

After a long three weeks, Lana was discharged from SCH and has since thrived. Without the services of SCH, I genuinely believe that my daughter wouldn’t have been strong enough to fight through Whooping Cough. I will be forever grateful for the help & support my family got from SCH and The Sick Childrens Trust. Whooping cough cases are on the rise again, with growing numbers of infant deaths in the UK being reported in 2024.

George and Emma –

Our families will never be able to pay The Sheffield Children's Hospital or The Sick Children's Trust back for everything they’ve done for us and our families. Whenever we tell our stories, everyone we speak to seems to know someone who have called upon SCH in their time of need. We’re delighted to take on this challenge with some of our colleagues to raise money towards upgrading facilities and supporting families like ours that need it.

If you can afford to donate, please do.