Howard Thomas, 12, was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer in December last year and started receiving chemotherapy in January. Howard is well enough to attend school on a parttime basis, but the side effects from intensive chemotherapy sessions has meant he has had to spend a lot of time away from the classroom.

The Thomas family have been receiving support from Momentum Children’s Charity and one of their Family Support Workers made a successful grant application to the Chartwell Children’s Cancer Trust for Howard to receive a robot.

The AV1 robot, allows Howard to keep up with lessons and activities when he is at hospital or at home.  Nicknamed AV Howard, the robot has been dressed in a school tie, and is taken from classroom to classroom by pupils at Turing House school in Twickenham. 

The robot has a camera, allowing Howard to read textbooks and worksheets, and a speaker so he can join in conversations in the classroom. It can also show emotions – if Howard isn’t feeling well, or just wants to sit and listen, he can light up the robot’s head in blue.

Howard said: “The AV1 has been incredible! It’s helped me to participate in class when I’m not well enough to be there. I have been able to keep up from an educational standpoint, so I don’t feel like I am falling behind.”

Howard’s mum, Hermione said: “Howard is a high achiever and it stressed him out not being able to go to school, so the robot has been wonderful. He can discuss a worksheet with the other pupils and its sociable; the other pupils wave goodbye to him at the end of a lesson. Howard will have the robot until he is ready to go back to school full-time. Thank you to Momentum for making the application for us.”

Momentum Children’s Charity supports families across London, Surrey, and Sussex whose children are facing cancer or a life-challenging condition. The charity partners with local hospitals to offer personally tailored support to the entire family through our family support workers, both in hospital and at home.

To find out more about the work of Momentum Children’s Charity, please visit www.momentumcharity.org

Notes to Editors:

Momentum Children’s Charity supports families across London, Surrey and Sussex whose children are facing cancer or a life-challenging condition. We partner with local hospitals to offer personally tailored support to the entire family through our family support workers, both in hospital and at home. Our services include counselling, creative therapies, special experiences, and respite breaks. If the unthinkable happens, and a child dies, we offer specialist bereavement support. The charity receives no government funding and is reliant entirely on voluntary support. 

Founded in 2004, Momentum Children’s Charity was started when Bianca Effemey OBE was working as a receptionist on the Paediatrics Ward at Kingston Hospital. Side effects of chemotherapy treatment can be very painful and she became aware of the impact they were having on young cancer patients. It became her mission to get white goods donated to the hospital which could be kept full of refreshments, providing some relief to children suffering with mouth ulcers caused by chemotherapy. Momentum has grown from a very small charity to now supporting around 300 children undergoing treatment and 140 bereaved families every year.

If you are interested in learning more about the work Momentum does, seeing the roles they are currently recruiting for or would like to get involved by attending an event, volunteering or making a donation please visit www.momentumcharity.org

www.momentumcharity.org Registered charity number: 1195373

For more information about Momentum and future press opportunities, please contact:  Claire Smith, PR and Communications Officer: clairesmith@momentumcharity.org  /  0208 974 5931