£5 -Rosie & Violet Book for a Child With CHD

This extra special story book is written specifically for very young children with a heart condition. It helps children to understand and come to terms with a heart condition which can be very challenging to take in when very young. It also helps makes their trips to hospital make sense and be less distressing.    

“Laura loved reading the book before she went into hospital for her open heart surgery. She was scared and anxious about the procedure, but her mum sat down and read her this book. Laura loved the characters in the book who were just like her – and now she reads the book all by herself and uses it to explain to her friends at school why she is different.”

£10 –A Guide for Families After a Child’s Diagnosis

When parents hear their child has a heart condition they need good information to help guide them through the complex world of hospitals, terminology and to learn about their child’s condition.

It is a confusing time, parent’s can feel alone and helpless. They need somewhere to turn and this is what CHF does – we are there to listen and support parents throughout this process. Our information packs help provide vital answers, which helps reassure and empower parents.

“Nice to know you are not alone. They understand you, your situation and the big words!” -Heart mum.

£20 -Mollies Dolly for a Child Awaiting Surgery

Our Molly’s dollies are dolls which are specially tailored to have scars just like the child will have and expect. These dolls help children come to terms with the physical changes of surgery and make the process easier emotionally.

They also help children in cope with the difficult environment of a hospital and are often used to help explain treatment by medical professionals and parents.

“It was so good to have a dolly that was just like me with a scar. She came to hospital with me because I knew she understood” – Amy, a little girl with a heart condition.

£40  Fund our Helpline for a Day

Navigating a heart child’s care can sometimes be overwhelming.  Our helpline offers a listening ear and can help people to navigate their way through what can be a stressful and confusing time.

“Having someone there at the end of the phone who understands what we’re going through is invaluable. From the day we first found out our daughter might have a heart condition, CHF have been there.  They’ve helped us through every step on our journey” – Dad of a child with a heart condition.

£150 – Family Support Grant

Many parents will have to travel, sometimes a very long distance to get to hospital for their child to be treated. If children have open heart surgery hospital stays can be long and families will sometimes experience real difficulties in ensuring they can be there for their child after and before the operation.

CHF’s small grant programme supports many parents helping towards things like travel costs and overnight accommodation at these distant units. Ensuring parents and family can be there for a sick child after surgery is important for the child’s recovery and for the whole family’s peace of mind.

“Keeping the family together when our son went in to hospital was so important. I don’t know what we would have done otherwise. We were all over the place emotionally and we wouldn’t have wanted to leave him on his own or for him to be there in hospital without me by his bed after the surgery. Thank you to CHF – it helped so much in one of the darkest periods of our lives.” – Parent helped by our grant’s programme.

£400 Send a Heart Child and Their Family to Wonderland

Give a heart child and their family some memories to treasure. Often day-to-day life is extremely stressful when you have a seriously ill child and this can but a big strain on the whole family. CHF runs events throughout the year to provide respite and to give treasured memories to heart children and their families.  Giving them a break away from home, hospitals and surgeries these trips bring families together as well as giving the heart children a fantastic memory to treasure. These experiences would normally be beyond the means of most families and make a real difference to those involved.

it is a great way of giving them independence & a wonderful experience in a ‘safe’ environment” – Dad of a heart child.

“It’s hard for our friends and family to fully understand the fear , anxiety and panic that you go through when your child has heart surgery . Meeting other families that have gone through the same experience is comforting and helps so much” – Mum of a heart child.

*Corporate sponsorship packages also available.

£500 – Buys an INR Machine – vital medical equipment

Not available on the NHS these machines test blood thickness levels meaning medication can be measured more accurately.

Children on drugs to regulate their blood will, without one of these small miracle machines, have to travel often frequently, long and disruptive journeys to hospital. This means the child often has to miss school and falls behind. They also find visiting hospital very stressful – as it’s not a place associated with good things for these children. Parents and the whole family are also disrupted having to take time off work.

Katherine who has just finished her exams said, “ I’m so grateful we had a machine to monitor my INR at home. During GCSEs we didn’t have the disruption of having to go to the hospital for every check – exams are hard enough without having to take time out. It would have really affected my results and my whole future”.

Easton’s Mum said “When we could home test with an INR machine our whole families lives changed for the better. Easton used to start getting upset as soon as we entered the hospital car park. We all have more control over our life, freedom to travel, greater control keeping Easton’s condition stable”. 

Giftaid to Increase the Value of Your Gift

If you are a UK taxpayer and have paid more tax than the value of your gift and would like CHF to claim Giftaid to increase the value of your gift by 25p for every £1, please add Giftaid to your basket!