Charitable classmates deliver hospital cheque

Lucy Mountain, from Wickersley, took five of her year five school friends from St Albans school to The Children's Hospital in Sheffield where they delivered a cheque for £653.90.

Ten-year-old Lucy has been treated at the hospital’s cystic fibrosis unit since she was born.

She visits the unit on average every four weeks and the visit gave her the chance to show her school friends what her hospital visits are all about.

The friends tried out a spirometry test, which measures lung function, met The Children’s Hospital Charity's mascot, Theo the Bear, and performed a song for him that they had learned in choir practice.

The school had chosen to support The Children’s Hospital Charity with their Christmas events, and inspired by Lucy, the school raised over three times the amount they have raised at past events.

“Lucy's had a challenging few years,” said Lucy’s mum Joanne.

“She’s spent a lot of time here, but she likes being here.

“She loves the Children's Hospital—it’s not scary to her at all.”

Dr Noreen West, Lucy's consultant at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Lucy has needed several courses of intravenous antibiotics due to chest problems over the last couple of years.

“The spirometry test is a basic but essential test to see how Lucy's lungs are functioning.

“It tells us whether Lucy needs antibiotics, if medication is working and so on.

“We need the patient to blow into a tube for as long and as hard as they can and the animated computer programme we use makes the test more fun for children.

“They can choose from different scenarios, like blowing a bowling ball into pins, blowing out candles or helping a little man fly.

“It’s the best measure of improvement or decline in our patients.

“Lucy has an annual review, which is when she comes in for a full day of tests, including chest X-rays, exercise tests and an ultrasound on her abdomen.

“She has just finished a course of intravenous antibiotics and is looking very well at the moment.”

Cystic fibrosis is one of the UK's most common life-threatening inherited diseases, affecting over 9,000 people in the UK.

It affects the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system.

The Children’s Hospital Charity have recently funded two new spirometers for the hospital, one of which will be housed in the cystic fibrosis unit.

To find out how you can help, visit www.tchc.org.uk or call the charity office on 0114 271 7203.