The mother of a boy who was diagnosed with a brain tumour aged just four has praised his Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) play specialist who was like a “guardian angel” that helped him face chemotherapy and treatment.
Jake Raven was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in January 2020, with the brain tumour causing him to eventually lose his sight.
After an eight-hour surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Jake spent months in hospital receiving treatment but the tumour permanently damaged his optic nerve.
Now aged eight, he has no vision in his left eye and he is registered sight impaired.
Mum Danielle McCrossan says his hospital play specialist Alanna Rudd helped him understand his treatment and brought light to an incredibly difficult time in their lives.
Ms McCrossan said: “Jake struggled at GOSH in the first couple of months. He was so scared and always looked to me for reassurance. He had just turned four, been thrown into hospital life and around people he didn’t know. Losing vision didn’t help with this.
“He was unaware of his surroundings and the people around him. I had to stay by his side, cuddling him. It was hard to get off the bed, even to go to the toilet.
“Spending time with the play team became very important to him, as it was someone else besides me that he got to play with, and he formed lovely bonds with them.”
GOSH Charity is on Wednesday celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Play team at Great Ormond Street Hospital, made up of 50 specialists who help thousands of seriously ill children every year overcome anxieties around their treatment or surgeries.
The team, fully funded through the charity, puts on dozens of activities every day to bring fun and laughter to the wards.
“They're like your guardian angels while you're in the hospital,” said Ms McCrossan.
“They're just children at the end of the day and the Play team give them those opportunities to just be children.
“[Alanna] was very good with getting Jake used to things like having a Hickman line in, she gave him a lion toy which we still have that also had a Hickman line, which helped break down a scary procedure.”
Play specialist Janet Holmes has worked with the team for more than half of her life and was part of the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony and when Princess Diana visited the team in 1991.
“It’s about providing the opportunity for them to play and do normal things that children do, whether that’s singing, dancing, telling jokes or just talking about school to provide a bit of normality,” she said.
“Sometimes parents worry about what they can do because they are in a hospital, but we blow that out the window with things like syringe paintings, which helps the children get used to being around medical equipment in the hospital.”
