25 January 2022
Birthday box’s first outing
In January we announced that we had put together a birthday box for our staff to use for patients who were celebrating their birthdays within our hospital. Mum, Lisa, explains how it helped her family:
“Ashlea was admitted to Southampton Children’s Hospital for elective open-heart surgery on 1 September 2021. She spent 11 nights in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit before being transferred for recovery on the E1 ocean ward, the specialist paediatric heart ward.
Ashlea was then sent home on 12 October where she was expected to make a full recovery.
By 31 October, Ashlea had unexpected complications and was admitted for emergency surgery. She went on to spend 28 nights on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) recovering.
Then on 15 December, Ashlea underwent long complex surgery meaning she then spent a further 23 nights in PICU.
Sadly, Ashlea missed a lot of events that she would usually spend with her family around her – Halloween, Bonfire Night, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and most importantly her first Birthday.
Thanks to Southampton Hospitals Charity and staff at UHS, we were able to give her a birthday to remember.
Staff borrowed the Birthday Box from Southampton Hospitals Charity which was full of banners, buntings, cards, and candles to enable the staff on the High Dependency Unit to decorate Ashlea’s bed space whilst she was away from the unit.
It was such a surprise!
Thankfully Ashlea is now making a great recovery and has a planned date to be discharged back home.”
Our priority appeal
The funding for the Birthday box came from our priority appeal.
This means that we can use donations to help any area of the hospital most in need or support fantastic ideas such as this.
Updated: 1.2.2022
