Supporting children with cancer (The VIP Treatment)

Every year, hundreds of children come to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for courses of radiotherapy.

The treatment is a course lasting five days, every week for six weeks. This is incredibly gruelling for people of any age, but what makes it harder for the young patients coming to QEHB for radiotherapy is that they have to be anaesthetised to ensure they do not move during treatment. This means that they often wake up disorientated and frightened in the unfamiliar environment of an adult hospital.

Your donations helped us create a new children’s play area in the waiting room, where young patients can meet others going through the same experiences as them, to building and decorating a consultation room for parents. 

Toys
Children undergoing radiotherapy must be treated everyday for six weeks. A grueling process for anyone let alone a scared and poorly child. You can help UHB Charity fund a personalised toy for each child as a well done for being such a superstar.

Linac
Each child goes through an average of 30 treatments, so to prepare them, UHB Charity provides every child with a Little Linac – a miniature building block set that children can use to build a replica of a radiotherapy machine, CT scanner and MRI scanner that children with a cancer diagnosis would see throughout their treatment.

This encourages children to learn about their treatment through play, building an awareness of the different types of machines, making it less scary. They cost £15 each and the fantastic thing about the Little Linac is that a child is less likely to choose anaesthesia during their treatment, which can lead to better medical results. It also increases the bond between patient and radiographer, which can lead to a faster recovery.

Two-year-old Arlo (pictured) had radiotherapy last year and was given a Little Linac. His dad, Stephen (pictured left), told us, “You can often feel helpless as a parent in these emotional situations, so to have something to distract Arlo with was amazing. He recognised the Tomotherapy unit (the radiotherapy machine, that looks similar to the image above) from the Little Linac set when having his treatment, making it less scary for him and less emotional for us. He also took it home to show his family and friends. We’re so proud of our brave little man.”

Paediatric Specialist Therapeutic Radiographer, Liam Herbert, told us how useful these are when treating children with cancer, “The Little Linacs are great at helping me prepare children for radiotherapy. If a child is nervous, I am able to use the Little Linacs to help familiarise the child with radiotherapy and the machines we use to deliver this important treatment. They often then take these Little Linacs home to build with their family or friends and show off how brave they have been.”

Radiotherapy Superhero Masks
UHB Charity is determined to make these children’s journeys as easy as possible.
Many children are required to wear a specially made radiotherapy mask over their head so that the treatment is precise and limits damage to healthy tissue. The mask is bulky and clinical and as a result children can feel trapped and claustrophobic or even frightened of the mask and the whole experience can be daunting and traumatic.

Your support would allow the charity to provide a specialist artist to paint the masks, ensuring every mask is completely individual and personalised. We have had Superheroes, Princesses and even Dinosaurs, an idea as simple as this has really benefitted the way children feel about receiving their radiotherapy treatment. It transforms the mask from something cold and clinical; to something they feel comfortable with and puts a smile on their face.

The painting of the mask can also help to encourage particularly anxious children to feel more at ease about their treatment. This is not only incredibly beneficial for the child, but also their parents who can feel powerless watching their little one be so scared of treatment. The masks can help to take a little stress away from parents and children alike. Once their treatment is finished, they can take their special mask home. Some children choose to take theirs to school for show and tell. It can help them explain what they have gone through to their friends and make them less scared to speak about it. The masks are also a brilliant way for clinical staff to build up rapport and trust with their patients as they decide together what character they would like to be. This is very important as it leads to better communication for a smoother treatment journey for both patient and staff.

Indiarose is an art student at the University of Birmingham and joined the team to decorate the masks in April 2023. “Out of the masks I’ve done so far these are some of my top favourites! I have always wanted to help people through a creative outlet and thanks to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, I have been so lucky with the opportunity to help children going through an extremely difficult time in hope that seeing their favourite character on these masks would put a smile on their faces even if it’s just for a second! As you can see not all masks are full faces, so I often have to work around cut outs but I think that is what makes them look even better when the kids are wearing them because they become part of the character! I can’t wait to keep going”

You can keep up to date with her progress via the Midlands Paediatric Radiotherapy Service’ s social media pages:

Twitter @MidlandsPaedRT

Instagram @midlandspaediatricradiotherapy

Please help us make our patients feel like the little heroes they are whilst they undergo their incredibly hard treatment by clicking on the donate button above.