Extra Smiles
Post Pals concentrates on providing day in day out support to the Pals and their family, but once in a while we are able to arrange an "Extra Smile" be it in the form of a day out, granting a wish or concert tickets. Post Pals doesn't have funding for this so we rely completely on people kindly donating tickets or experiences. Maybe you have tickets for something you can't make or spare ones? Maybe you work somewhere which could provide a happy time or have an idea for an extra smile? If so, please drop us a line on info@postpals.co.uk
Darin K
Darin was asked ‘If you could have a wish, what would it be?’ and he said to be a postman or to drive a digger. Make a wish are going to make him a postman for the day, and Post Pals arranged for him to go to diggerland. His mum said:
The weather was great and the park wasn't too busy. In the morning we went fishing for ducks, searched for some treasure and did some digging using static diggers. We then drove some dumper trucks which Darin really enjoyed. After lunch we met up with Barry who took Darin out to a special area where he got to drive a full size JCB. He had great fun steering the JCB around on the mud and even got to shovel up, lift, and dump big loads of mud all over the place. After, he was very lucky and was given some lovely souvenirs from the shop and a certificate to prove he had driven a full size JCB all on his own, which he is very proud to show off.
It was a lovely day which we all enjoyed, especially Darin.
A very big thank you to Barry and everyone at the Devon branch of Diggerland for making Darin's dream come true.
Stephanie W
We were able to make Stephanie's 17th birthday eXtra special this year by sending her to see X Factor. On the 24th of November 2007 Stephanie arrived at the VIP entrance to Fountain Studio armed with a big banner she had made to support contestant Niki, who they were delighted got through on the night! They watched the show and Xtra Factor as well as the results show and had a great evening!
A big thank you to our patron, Fearne Cotton, for organising this for Stephanie.
Picture of Stephanie (above) outside the studio with her banner.
Jamie's Wiggly Bag Project
A lot of children who have central lines known as "Wiggly" (a tube coming out the chest for IV access) wear ‘wiggly bags’. They are little bags attached to ribbon and worn around the neck which lets the line rest in them, taking the weight, stopping them from getting tugged and keeping them clean. When Jamie R relapsed and had to have a line again in May 2005 his Mum Kelly contacted us saying that their local hospital had run out of wiggly bags and did we know anyone who could make some. She also mentioned that often in the past the material a lot of them had been made from wasn't very appealing to children. So we launched an appeal on behalf of Jamie and the ward and were astounded at the response - receiving hundreds of wiggly bags from around the world and in all manors of materials. From girly patters, to aeroplanes, to popular children's characters, even a range of ones with felt shapes sewn on for visually impaired children. The Christmas range were very popular on the BMT ward at
Nathan V
Nathan V received a Chemo Duck from us- complete with central line, arm splint, scrubs and matching bandana. After Nathan passed away his Mum donated the Chemo Duck to the ward. David, Amelia, Nicole D and Alice P also love their Chemo Duck's
Samantha H
In December 2005 Samantha was in hospital most of the time, and as she had shingles was put into isolation. She was upset that this meant she wasn't allowed to help decorate the Christmas tree in the playroom so Post Pals sent her 2 pink Christmas tree's, one for her hospital room and one for her bedroom at home. This is a picture of her with one; she is wearing an outfit which she had also been sent.
Matty and Family
A trip was arranged for Matty and his family to visit RAF St Mawgan at the beginning of June, they had a tour of the School of Combat, tour of a Helicopter, lunch in the Officers Mess, and visited the Pilots of 203 Squadron. Matty and Emma had great fun wearing and using the camouflage paint, jackets, hats, flares, magnets, torches, compasses etc and went home with lots of goodies. Matty's Grandparents emailed afterwards to say
"Many thanks to post pals for giving Matty a wonderful day last Thursday when he and Emma had a tour of RAF St Mawgan. Shame they were unable to go up in the helicopter, but a great time was had, we wondered who it was when they came home with all the camouflage makeup on. Thanks once again for all the good work you are doing and everyone who sends messages it means a lot."
Maureen & Keith (Matty and Emma's grandparents)
James R
Big thank you to Mike who sent this very cool snowboard video game (minus the mountains!) to James R who loves it!
Nicole
Between Nicole scan's and her appointment, she went on a trip around the Bear Factory arranged by Post Pals. She got to choose 2 bear skins (one for her and one for Lauren her sister), kiss a little heart for each, and have them made up for her, and then pick out some clothes. She chose a pink sparkly unicorn, with a swimming costume, sunglasses and hat, and for Lauren a bear in a bikini. Afterwards they went for ice cream at the Haagen Daaz Cafe.
Thank you to the Bear Factory and Haagen Dazz for making this possible.
James
James and his family went to a trip to their local Snow Dome (with real snow!) organised by Post Pals, there they did tobogganing, and ice-skating, and no doubt threw a few snowballs! His Dad has uploaded photographs of the day, they can be seen here
Josh, Nathan, Daniel and Luke
Josh, Nathan, Daniel and Luke are all big Blue Peter Fans, Josh even won a competition just before he was diagnosed with XLP to be crowned "Blue Peters Number 1 Fan" and appeared on the show. Due to Josh's immune system after his transplant, and the coming transplants of his brothers the family were very restricted in what they could do. So Post Pals contacted Blue Peter and asked if they would consider awarding the boys a Gold badge - very rarely given to anyone, 2 weeks later all 4 boys were awarded a gold badge each. Josh was particularly over the moon with this, and was rumored (started by his Dad!) to even be wearing it on his pajamas!
Nathan also loves Casualty so during his transplant Post Pals wrote to them, and they sent him a hat which is often seen on the program.
When Nathan was expected to be in hospital for Christmas we sent a reindeer pinata stuffed with goodies for the boys to do together on the ward. Happily, Nathan was discharged just in time for Christmas and they had great fun playing with it in their back garden.
Nicole D
We were contacted by someone who had tickets to a Take That concert but were unable to attend themselves. They offered them to Post Pals and Nicole D went along. She had a fantastic time singing along.
Quilts from Project Linus
All Pals receive a quilt upon joining Post Pals from Project Linus, occasionally people offer to make an extra quilt for a Pal or two, here is a picture of Nicole with hers which was presented to her on her 5th birthday.
