Young Sergio says thank you with a donation

Children at Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) will benefit from new toys and games thanks to the generosity of one of its young patients.

Five-year-old Sergio Worsley, from Bradford, wanted to say thank you for the brilliant care he has received in the Children and Young People’s Unit at BRI. He presented hospital play specialist, Catherine Piggott, with £700 in cash and vouchers from his mum’s employer – TK Maxx, Halifax– as a special thank you.

Sergio’s mum, Cat Worsley, said: “We spend lots of time in hospital because Sergio has suffered from recurrent chest infections since he was two-years-old. He spends up to two weeks there each time. He always plays with the toys and they really cheer him up, so it means a lot to both of us that this donation will be used to buy more toys for children who are in hospital.”

Hayley Collis, head of fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “Toys make such a positive difference to our young people, who are often struggling with treatment and missing home. This generous donation from Sergio and his mum’s employers, TK Maxx, will buy some fantastic toys to help distract and calm our patients.

“While the NHS funds the very best treatment and care, extras such as toys and distraction equipment, which help our young patients so much, must be paid for by charity donations.

“Thank you to TK Maxx, Halifax, for making the donation and to Sergio and Cat for thinking of us.”

To find out more about Bradford Hospitals’ Charity and how you can support your local hospitals through donations, fundraising or volunteering, visit www.bradfordhospitalscharity.org. The Children and Young People’s Ward also has an Amazon Wishlist, which allows people to buy items for the unit. All Wishlists can be found at https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/give/gifts-in-kind/.

Alternatively, contact Hayley Collis or Elaine Drake on 01274 274809 or email [email protected]

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Note to editors

About Bradford Hospitals’ Charity

●Bradford Hospitals’ Charity is one of more than 250 NHS charities in the UK. It supports the strategic direction of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust by funding projects which go over and above what he NHS provides.

●Did you know that, together, all NHS charities give £1million every single day to the NHS!

●In 2017, a new £28million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, which was part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals. It provides world-class facilities for the elderly, children and a brand new intensive care unit. Bradford Hospitals’ Charity provided £260,000 to enable the Trust to create family friendly environments, state-of-the-art equipment and innovative distraction toys and games for young people.

●With the support of Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, BTHFT was also able to provide more cots, including intensive care and high dependency cots, new family accommodation, a revamped counselling suite and a dedicated room for mothers to express milk for pre-term babies when the new neonatal unit opened in 2015.