While we were in PICU with Elsie we noticed that they had lots of little bits for the children, from colourful lights, to books, and pretty decorations.
They moved Elsie to a bed space with a window and the staff made her, her very own bunting with her name on it (we still have it). They hung it above her bed on the window, along with fairy lights, rainbow bunting and lots of other pretty things. There was a little girl opposite Elsie, she must have been two or three, the nurses would take over the lights and you could see the excitement in her face, it was lovely to see. It was then that Ben said to me - I'm going to raise money for the unit to get them some new lights and things for the kids. I remember just smiling at him and saying "that's nice babe".
Little did I know that he along with with his two best friends, Tommy and Pooler and my nephew Josh would run the Brighton marathon in April 2022 raising a massive £23,029.46 for the unit!!! The PICU charity suggested they restricted the monies until we decided what we'd like it spend on. Lots of emails were sent back and forth about machines they needed, similar to the ones Elsie used while on the unit, but none of it seemed right. One day Kerry (the charity lead) messaged us to say that the charity had received a request for funding to support a little revamp!! So the money we raised in the name of our gorgeous little sassy girl managed to create beautiful atmospheric accent lighting and wall panels for five bed spaces which include pictures and colour changing wall lights which create a more calming atmosphere for the children and families. We haven't been brave enough to go see the changes made to PICU but Kerry has sent us photos and we are so pleased!!
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