Giggle Doctor visits for children in hospital

In November our Giggle Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital were joined by Double Paralympic Medallist, Will Bayley. Will joined Dr Snug as she brightened up the ward with her huge smile and colourful costume and used a magical mixture of storytelling, puppetry, music and magic to bring joy to the children’s bedsides. He involved himself in the visit as he helped Dr Snug perform magic tricks and shared jokes with the children on the ward.

Will said “As a child I spent many months at Great Ormond Street Hospital. I understand how daunting hospital can be for a child. I think what the Giggle Doctors do is fantastic and it’s great to see the impact they have on the children. The room really lights up when the Giggle Doctors are around.”

We would also love to share with you a lovely Christmas story we recently received from Dr Geehee: 

“I was working at GOSH, on Fox ward, with Dr Dovetail and Dr I Spy. All the children on this ward are in solo isolation rooms due to the fact that they have had a transplant or are waiting for a transplant of some kind. We cannot go into the rooms and have to work through a window. As we are not able to go into the rooms I had decided to do a bit of funny carol singing with my new microphone. I had seen a couple of children and sung a few songs. I then came to the last room and through the windows I saw a small boy, about 4 years old, sitting on the bed with his head down. His mother, who was also in the room, saw me and drew his attention to me at the window. His eyes lit up. I said “Hello, can you hear me?” and he nodded. I then told him that I was a Christmas tree because I can get lights out of my ears, nose and mouth. I then began to produce lights. He found this funny and started to laugh and laugh and laugh. His Mum and the others in the room were laughing too. I knew that my job was done, wished him a merry Christmas and moved on. 

I then went on to the next ward. Half way through my shift on the new ward I realised that I had left my microphone on Fox ward so I went back to get it. As I entered the ward a lady met me at the door and said "Thank you so much for making my Grandson laugh. His Mum and Dad had not heard him laugh for weeks. You really made him laugh. Thank you so much.”

Merry Christmas from everyone at Theodora Children’s Trust.

We are currently in the process of recruiting our next intake of Giggle Doctors. Last week we invited our shortlisted applicants to workshops and had so much fun meeting our potential new Giggle Doctors.

We have also been developing our social media and have been receiving some wonderful photos and messages on facebook and twitter. Below is a lovely message we were delighted to receive from a parent.

 “We first met the Giggle Doctors about 2 weeks after my six year old daughter was diagnosed with cancer. Up to that point she cried every time someone in a uniform came near her. When the Giggle Doctors arrived all we heard was laughter and lots and lots of smiles and this has continued ever since! For this I will always be grateful to you. Keep up your good work!”

 We would also love to share with you a story we received from Dr Jammi after a recent visit to Addenbrooke’s Hospital:

 “We entered one room with two families in it, both nervous, both quiet. One family consisted of a baby, his brother and sister and their mum. The other family was a mum and her three year old son.

On entering the room, a game of hide and seek ensued with the brother and sister. Their giggles grew rapidly into bigger and bigger laughs. As helicopters flew and silly walks were invented, one side of the room was transformed.

On the other side, the mum with her son watched shyly. Dr I Spy moved across to the pushchair and gently started to connect with the mum and her son. I joined them. The mum seemed surprised that we were paying her son any attention because of his disabilities, his head rocked from side to side and his eyes roamed around the room, unable to focus on any one thing.

As I strummed the strings of my ukulele, Dr I Spy and I sang the little boys name, his whole body relaxed and he looked at us. A smile slowly filled his face. Tears welled up in his mum's eyes as the eight year old brother from the other family came across to join in the song.

We sang goodbye and danced out of the room leaving the two families enthusiastically waving together joined in song.”

From everyone at Theodora Children’s Trust, thank you so much for your continued support.