Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page, for more details of current events please check out http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Octavia-Appeal-for-the-Friends-of-Royal-Brompton/206402946105668 or email me at lyndacmackie@tiscali.co.uk

The Octavia Appeal is an appeal for The Friends of Royal Brompton Hospital, aimed at raising money for specific items (see below) in the paediatric intensive care and paediatric ward at this world renown hospital which looks after children with often life threatening heart and lung conditions.

“I have taken on this cause because I have firsthand experience as a parent who has spent time with a child in PICU (intensive care). PICU takes the sickest children in the country, most of who are on life support when they arrive and have become too sick to be cared for at the other more general major hospitals. A good day in the unit can be one where you are you’re your child is “probably” strong enough to survive the next 12 hours, on a bad day you can have a consultant or two by your side continually.

During our time there I could see a real lack of chairs for parents around the life support machines in the PICU and the need for a coffee machine (life sometimes really is too short to go in search of a Starbucks!). Unfortunately coffee machines are out of the question due to infection control regulations but chairs are still in short supply. The hospital has also come up with further items which require funding from outside their statutory budget.

This appeal is our way of giving something back to this great hospital which has saved the lives of so many children and unlike many charity appeals we can guarantee that all money raised goes directly towards the chosen projects without any admin charges etc being deducted.”

Specific projects include

1 - comfortable chairs for parents by beds in the intensive care unit.

2 - The visual art work in the new sleep and ventilation unit. The desire was to make the rooms as comfortable, homely and inviting as possible within the sphere of hygiene and infection control.

3 - The refurbishment of the parents accommodation, used by those whose children have been transferred to the hospital from other areas in the country.

4 - A research fellow for SPRinT, the hospitals pioneering and world leading paediatric resuscitation training programme which is entirely charitably funded.

5 - A programme of music therapy for the paediatric ward.

6 - Funding for a prize to recognise achievement/work carried out by trainees while working in paediatrics at the Royal Brompton, and to encourage them to engage in quality and safety initiatives and to lead projects for patient benefit.

So please dig deep and donate now. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.