The colourful artwork can be seen in two newly decorated isolation rooms on Ash Ward. Featuring jungle animals in one room and woodland creatures in the other room, this wonderful wall-art will help reduce stress and provide distractions for the many children who spend time in hospital.

One of the isolation rooms was funded by a family that Momentum Children’s Charity supports, Kate Wells and Kieran Charnock. Their daughter, Jessica, was diagnosed with cancer in September 2017, when she was two years old. In the first few months of treatment, Jessica spent many days and nights on Ash Ward at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals. As Kate, Jessica’s mother explains, the children’s ward refurbishments, completed by the charity, made a huge difference to their stay.

The difference between being in a room refurbished by Momentum Children’s Charity and a plain white walled room is huge. Days in hospital can be very long, especially for a two-year-old. Being in a room full of colour and unique designs really sparked Jessica’s imagination and inspired me too! We stayed in the Jacqueline Wilson themed room and we were able to create stories about the characters.

“After seeing the difference the room made to Jessica, the overall support offered from Momentum Children’s Charity and the hospital, we decided we wanted to give something back and funding a room refurbishment was the obvious choice.”

 “Jessica absolutely loves the designs. Jessica is due to finish treatment next month and it’s wonderful to think of all the children that will use the room and enjoy the designs in the future.”

As well as the animal theme, Momentum Children’s Charity recently completed another isolation room refurbishment featuring a woodland theme, kindly funded by West Byfleet Golf Club.

West Byfleet Golf Club chose Momentum Children’s Charity as their charity of the year in January 2019 and have already raised a fantastic £25,000. As well as funding the refurbishment of the isolation room, an amount is paying for a much-needed retractable sun canopy for the Oncology Garden, as well as some garden seating. The remaining funds will go towards Momentum Children’s Charity’s Family Support Programme for St Peter’s families, which includes specialist therapy services, counselling and respite breaks.

On behalf of all the families with seriously ill children we support at St Peter’s Hospital, I can’t thank you enough! We are overwhelmed by your support which will make a massive difference to what the charity can achieve for local families. It’s an incredible amount to receive, for which we are truly grateful.

Kate Brookes, Corporate Fundraiser for Momentum

Momentum Children’s Charity worked closely with Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals to complete the refurbishments. Jennifer Drummond, Matron for Ash Ward, explains, “Many oncology children spend long periods of time on the ward and the wall-art allows patients to escape into a wonderful world of jungle animals and woodland creatures”.