Charities

Captains Charity 2015

Andy Heyes

Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Southampton General Hospital

As you are aware, I pestered the living daylights out of you last year to support my Captain's Charity, the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Southampton General Hospital. Retrospectively, I cannot thank you enough for the support you offered, particularly those of you who I know dug deep!

Well, I finally got round to visiting PICU last Tuesday - with James - to look round the unit, meet a number of the consultants and present a cheque for £2500 on behalf of the Hampshire Stragglers Golf Society. The visit was, quite simply, humbling! The work that the unit does is incredible and is truly transforming the lives of children and their families, often by keeping children alive so they can go on and lead normal lives. I know, first-hand, the difference the consultants, doctors, nurses, etc make - many of the professionals who looked after James in May 2007 still work on the unit - we met a couple of them - without them, James may well not be with us now!

Anyway, James and I presented a cheque for £2500 - see photos attached. A small amount in some ways, particularly given that The 'Friends of PICU' has raised nearly £1.5 million over the past ten years! Incredible. All of the money raised goes towards providing, and updating, invaluable equipment that is simply not affordable through the usual NHS funding streams. And, it is clear that every penny counts! I was particularly struck by the fact that the Unit has a fully-converted ambulance for sole use by the Unit, a specially-convereted trolley to transport critically-ill children from the ambulance/air ambulance to the ward and some amazing equipment that we saw on the ward. Mark, who has been the Secretary of The 'Friends of PICU' and whose own son died on the ward a number of years ago, showed us round and could not have been more accommodating - his influence on the fund-raising is remarkable.

So, that is that - we have done our part. Thank you. If you are interested in doing something to support - at a personal level - please see the attached leaflet which explains how you can do so.