How we support Heart Heroes
These small cloth comforters are used to help with the very important bonding process between parents and their baby when Mums and Dads can’t hold their little ones after birth.
Smell, as we know is the first sense a baby develops, and scientists believe that a baby’s ability to smell their parent is one of the most important steps in learning to recognise them. A handy pack of two comforters means that Mum or Dad can always have one with them and one with baby so little one never has to be without their familiar, comforting scent.
It costs just £20 to provide this vital connection between parent and baby and Chuf have been funding miniboos for our Heart Hero families since 2018.
We have funded a LEGO CT scanner for Heart Heroes to play with before undergoing treatment at a cost of £224. The model offers a chance for children to get a better understanding of what the CT scanner looks like as well as what it does. This helps to reduce stress and anxiety about undergoing treatment by educating them on the process and it also helps to build trust. There has been nothing but big smiles on the faces of the children who have been able to enjoy the toy.
Baggins Bear is a much loved initiative funded by Chuf. Each bear costs £10 and is a vital tool for the team at the Heart Unit when supporting little ones through their surgery journey.
In 2018 Lisa Morgan, an experienced health care professional at the Freeman Hospital, developed the new initiative with her management team to provide additional support for patients and families when they go to theatre for open heart surgery.
Children who undergo heart surgery are given a Baggins Bear to celebrate their bravery and act as a momento of their journey. Baggins arrives at their bedside during recovery and has a book which Lisa has created herself; the book can be translated into any language to help engage with all families. It’s a lovely keepsake for the children to take home with them.
We are proud to fund the Baggins Bear initiative for our Heart Heroes and to be working with such an amazing team at the Children’s Heart Unit.
https://www.chuf.org.uk/news/freeman-nurse-wins-national-nursing-award/
Every Summer, Chuf arranges for an ice cream van to come to the Children’s Heart Unit as a sweet treat for the patients, parents and staff at a cost of around £300.00.
Visits like this can put a smile on the face of a child and their siblings who are spending their summer on the Heart Unit.
It’s important that each child thrives even while undergoing treatment. The dedicated Play Team provide a specific plan of play and development for each child to help them reach their full potential. Children also benefit from Ward 23’s exciting sensory and audiovisual room, as well as a bright airy playroom, and a large play area for outdoor activities.
On January 11th 2009, Ivan Hollingsworth and his wife Nadine’s son Seb was born with a congenital heart defect. Seb was given lifesaving surgery and in September 2009, Ivan started to raise money for Chuf with the aim of reaching £333,000 to rebuild the playroom attached to Ward 23 and develop the outside play area. Ivan said: “Four years and four months after we raised our first few pounds for Chuf we hit this huge target – almost exactly five years after Seb was born. The rebuilding of the playroom and outside play area will bring a smile to Seb’s face and so many others like him”.
The play room is regarded as one of the best facilities in the country and chuf are continuously fundraising to ensure the latest toys and facilities are available for our Heart Heroes to enjoy.
At Chuf we champion the little things, so when the Play Specialists came to us with the idea of funding a fairground ride for the day, we were delighted to be able to support them! Being in hospital means things like enjoying the fun of the fair over the summer isn’t possible, at Chuf anything is possible! Working with the Play Specialists we use your donations to bring smiles to Heart Heroes in hospital all year round.
Here are some quote’s from the children and their families who enjoyed this activity during their stay in hospital.
‘The fairground ride was a brilliant activity that reminded us of happy times at home. Evie absolutely adored it and we are so thankful for the fantastic play team for organising it for us’ – Evies mam
‘This is THE funnest hospital ever’ – Ella aged 7
‘A lovely day for the children, it is lovely to see them smile again’ – Arsalas Dad
Chuf funds weekly music sessions on the Heart Unit at a cost of £2940 per year.
Sophie Patton, a Play Nurse Specialist, tells us why these sessions are so important,
‘The children and families enjoy our weekly music sessions. It brings them a sense of ‘normality’ to their days whilst in hospital. Some who have been in hospital for a number of months. Music stars helps with their continuing development, for example speech, fine and gross motor skills and social interaction. It is a great stimulation for the children, and it is emotionally uplifting for the whole ward. It’s nice to be able to get the children and parents together once a week from all areas of the heart unit. Many of our families attend music groups pre admission to the ward and they find joy that they are able to continue this whilst admitted to hospital’
Chuf, for hearts, for families, for life – We support Adult Congenital Heart patients by providing a discretionary charitable fund to support with the things the NHS cannot. We have also funded, equipment, tablets with Netflix and Disney subscriptions and a games box to help relieve the boredom of a long hospital stay.
What does Chuf mean for Adult congenital heart disease patients?
As well as funding the build of the invaluable play facilities at the Freeman Hospital Chuf was instrumental in establishing the incredible play nursing team at the Heart Unit and we continue to support their development and vital work by funding materials.
Over the last year we have funded arts and crafts materials, new toys, gaming equipment and we continue to fund subscriptions of superfast internet access, Disney+ and Netflix annually.
TV’s, DVD players and projectors have been funded by Chuf for the Clinic E outpatients unit, these are used for distraction of patients during ECHO scans and are invaluable to the staff and families attending their clinic appointments.
We continue to work hard to ensure festivities and milestones are extra special for our little ones who cannot be at home to celebrate with all of their family. Chuf spends over £6,000.00 each year to ensure that Christmas is a magical time of year for our Heart Heroes.
Chuf proudly funds a soft toy for every Heart Hero attending a clinic appointment at Freeman Hospital during December. Treats like this make such a difference to the children who can often be worried about attending their check-ups.
Chuf also funds Build A Bears complete with outfits to be given to babies and children spending Christmas Eve on the ward. Providing comfort for our Heart Heroes during their time on the Heart Unit over the festive period.
In December, Chuf arranges for a reindeer to visit the unit. By bringing festive magic to the unit in December we hope to bring a smile to the faces of our Heart Heroes helping to get them in the Christmas spirit.
Since 2019, Chuf have funded Christmas scrubs for staff to wear on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Other celebrations throughout the year are marked with gifts, decorations, special treats and deliveries.
The Mark Benevolent Fund donated an amazing £7,625.00 which was used to fund the refurbishment of the Children’s Heart Unit sensory room.
The sensory room is a much-loved area of Ward 23’s playroom and thanks to their generous donation, it now has state of the art equipment which allows our Heart Heroes to enjoy special times spent playing in a sensory environment.
Since 2006, Chuf has worked in partnership with Tin Arts delivering The Clown Doctors programme at the Freeman Hospital and over the years thousands of individuals have benefitted. Chuf fund the Clown Doctor programme annually at a cost of £35,000.
The Clown Doctors remain one of the most important services we fund and embody our value that there is a place for everyone. The ability of the play therapists to connect with Heart Heroes of all ages is second to none and their input into the recovery of our patients is invaluable. We believe in the power of the Clown Doctors so much that in 2021-22 we extended the impact of this service beyond the walls of the Freeman Hospital and have funded a programme of ‘Very Special Meetings’.
This programme was established as a result of the Virtual Clown Doctor programme, known as ‘Very Special Meetings’. This was piloted with young people, who had already met and engaged with the Clown Doctors during their time on the Children’s Heart Unit and are now living with their condition at home and attending outpatient appointments at the Freeman. This programme has been a resounding success and we continue to grow the programme working closely with the medical team to identify families to engage with upon discharge. The extension of our service has an additional cost of £10,500 annually and stands testament to our lifelong commitment to Heart Heroes by extending care beyond the hospital walls.
We would love to share the feedback report for the Clown Doctors programme funded by Chuf for 2021-2023
Clown Doctors Report to CHUF September 2021 to August 2023 – Annonymised
The Clown Doctors North East is a programme produced by TIN Arts and funded by The Children’s Heart Unit Fund (Chuf). The Clown Doctors visit Ward 23 and PICU at the Children’s Heart Unit Freeman Hospital (Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust), twice a week, engaging with young people of all ages.
TIN Arts and Chuf have been working together, to explore the opportunities around engaging with Heart Heroes at home and had initiated the ‘Beyond the Walls’ pilot; a piece of research exploring how The Clown Doctors could connect virtually with Heart Hero children in their communities. Our work became acutely relevant once isolation and subsequently lockdown commenced, as a result of COVID 19. We knew we had to act fast, to reach out to children and young people across the Country who, as a result of to their Heart conditions, were self-isolating and in need of distraction, entertainment and light relief!
We are delighted to bring you The Beat Squad. A tailor made online platform, with videos to watch, activities to engage with and ideas of things to do. We have developed The Beat Squad online community for Heart Heroes; however, we are mindful that ALL children and young people are living through extraordinary and uncertain times and therefore want to reach out to you all.
Chuf fund Puppet Making Workshops delivered by Tin Arts for Ward 23 to provide new activities for patients and siblings throughout the holidays.
Each session runs for 3 hours and includes both small group sessions in the playroom, alongside one to one play at the bedside. During the sessions, each child would create a puppet and work with Tin Arts to bring it to life through stories and play. Each child keeps the puppet they have made.
We support Clinic E with toys and equipment for their waiting area to entertain Heart Heroes attending outpatient appointments.
Chuf have funded a variety of items including toys, a football table, giant connect 4, equipment for the games area and we also help to maintain the fish tank. More recently some new stickers to decorate the floor have been laid
Thank you to each and every one of our wonderful supporters, you make spending time in hospital a little easier when children are visiting for outpatient appointments.
Chuf are funding a Music Therapist from Nordoff Robbins once a week on the heart unit. Music therapy can play an important role in recovery from serious illness, the children enjoy the continuity each week and look forward to trying new instruments, forming bands and exploring new music.
‘This programme is hugely beneficial to everyone and all patients can get involved whether they are on PICU, HDU or in the playroom, we can work around their needs – Play team
The creation of a new quite room in Clinic E has been made possible through the repurposing of a store room. Creating a relaxing and supportive environment for patients who benefit from being in a quieter area whilst waiting for their appointments or require support form other allied health professionals.
Chuf were delighted to fund the furniture and lighting for this room at a cost of £3,200.00
Chuf is thrilled to be working alongside Brave Hearts of the North East to be able to recognise and reward the bravery of our Heart Heroes.
If you would like to nominate a child for a Brave Hearts award please visit the Brave Hearts website.
We have recently funded some more much loved Tonie Boxes and Tonie Characters for children and babies to borrow whilst staying on PICU.
Here’s some feedback from one of the parents: “My child has been inpatient at the Freeman for over half their life and I have found it very difficult to establish a routine for them while living in hospital. This was however until we were given a Toni box to borrow on PICU. They now know that a certain character means it’s bedtime and we have been able to have much better bedtime routines. They love playing with different characters during the day and we love watching them dance along with the box. We already have ordered our own for our hopeful return to at home bedtime routines”
Children's Heart Unit Fund - Chuf
Designworks Business Centre
William Street
Gateshead
NE10 0JP
Tel: 0191 281 3166
Email: info@chuf.org.uk
Chuf is a registered charity in England and Wales No 1160831 © 2025.
Connect with us
We will keep your information to send you our e-newsletter. We take your privacy seriously and will only use your details to provide the information and services you have requested from us. Click here to view our privacy policy. Should you wish at any time to have your details removed from our contact list please email info@chuf.org.uk.
