Giggle Doctor visits for children in hospital

Thank you so much for your incredible support in 2017! Your donations helped us to give giggles to sick and disabled children in hospitals, hospices and specialist care centres across England. 

Receiving treatment in hospital as a child can be incredibly distressing. Children are unable to attend school and separated from friends and family, sometimes for long periods of time. They may find it difficult to understand why they are undergoing uncomfortable treatments and procedures, surrounded by scary looking medical equipment, loud sounds and strange smells. They may even feel guilty for being the reason their loved ones are so worried about them. 

Sometimes all you need in such a frightening situation is to laugh, play and feel like a normal child again. The Theodora Children's Charity provides Giggle Doctors, who are specially trained to provide joy and laughter during even the most challenging situations.

Our Giggle Doctors will be giving giggles to children in hospital over Chrismas and every £10 provides a visit for one child. Please consider donating and helping us to reach even more children this Christmas. 

"I wanted to get in touch to say thank you to the Giggle Doctors at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, who made such a difference to my daughter's time in hospital.

Rosie (aged 7) arrived at the Marsden in December with stage 4 liver cancer... She was acutely unwell and very traumatised by the amount of intrusive interventions she had had to undergo in a previous hospital. It had been a complete whirlwind and we arrived at the Marsden within a week of the diagnosis. Rosie stopped talking, and our typically happy chatty daughter withdrew into herself. It was heartbreaking to see, and then just after Christmas she met two of your amazing Giggle Doctors, Dr Yo-Ho and Dr Bananas. I had tears rolling down my cheeks as I watched with amazement as Rosie started smiling, laughing and talking again and for a while she was able to escape the pain and the grim reality of cancer. I hadn't heard her talk in over a week and hadn't seen her smile since before Christmas. The weekly visit of the Giggle Doctors became a real highlight in our week and something for Rosie to look forward to.

We were also lucky to meet Dr Dotty and Dr Geehee who, in addition to Dr Yo Ho and Dr Bananas, were outstanding. Their ability to adapt to the ever changing situation of a hospital environment and Rosie's health was impressive to watch and they would always tailor their interactions accordingly.

Devastatingly Rosie never got to leave the Marsden and she died in May after being in hospital for almost 5 months. We continue to struggle with our loss of Rosie which has left a massive void in our lives but I wanted to express how grateful we are for the joy and laughter that the Giggle Doctors brought into Rosie's last few months of life. It is a wonderful charity which has an amazingly powerful impact on children and indeed on their families too." - A Parent