No child should face hospital without their family by their side. The Sick Children’s Trust provides a vital ‘Home from Home’ where families with a critically ill child in hospital can stay. It’s somewhere they can feel reassured and safe, cook a meal, rest and shower to face the day ahead and best support their child’s recovery.

In 2025 my gorgeous baby niece Amelia was born, and the same day her parents were told she had a previously unknown heart condition. Her condition has meant she has required surgery that meant she spent her first Christmas in hospital - she is going to need further surgery in the future. The Scott house at the Freeman hospital, ran by the Sick Children’s trust gave my brother and sister in law a place to stay when Amelia was in hospital, so that they could be by their daughters side, rest and shower to support their baby girl. They provide such a valuable service to families of ill children and babies.

Without us each year around 3,500 families would have to travel long distances, sleep in uncomfortable hospital chairs or pay for expensive hotels just to be by their sick child’s hospital bedside. Not only do we alleviate financial worries but we also help the mental wellbeing of the families we support.