💔 This is the hardest post I’ve written all year.
While many of us are wrapped up in family, warmth, and festive cheer, there are babies and young children sitting alone on hospital beds tonight.
Not because they’re unloved - but because sometimes parents can’t always be there every minute.
This is a quiet crisis most people never see.
In the UK right now:
😢 Over 80,000 children will go through hospital without a parent at their bedside.
😳 More than 10,000 of those will endure a week with only a one-hour visit from someone they know.
This is the gap Ward Buddies exists to fill.
How do I know the pain of a child alone in hospital? Because I was one.
It took some tough therapy as an adult to realise how deeply those lonely hospital stays scarred me with feelings of abandonment.
That’s why I started Ward Buddies 💛 - to make sure no child feels that same physical and emotional pain.
Right now, we’re working inside Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where our specialist staff and trained volunteers have supported nearly 500 children this year.
And as proud as I am of that, it’s only scratching the surface of what’s needed.
⏳ In the next 3 months, we need to raise £63,000 to keep this going and expand so that no child is left without comfort when they need it most.
(100% of donations go to the children’s care 🙌).
A few weeks ago, ITV asked me to share the Ward Buddies story on Good Morning Britain. However, the only interview slot was at Christmas time.
A time when I was away with my own family, doing what so many of us are lucky to do this time of year.
The interview didn’t happen in the end, so I’m turning to social media instead to get the word out.
If this story hits you in the chest, please don’t scroll past.
👉 If you’d like to help, comment BUDDY below and I’ll message you personally 💛
And even if you can’t contribute money, sharing this post with your friends is helping!
Every share means more eyes on this problem, and maybe more kind people stepping forward to donate to fix it.
This is how change starts. It starts with awareness, with compassion, and with you.
Let’s show those 80,000 kids that they haven’t been forgotten.
Together, we can end this quiet crisis - together, we can make sure no child is ever alone in hospital 💛