Oliver was admitted to PICU following a swimming pool accident in July 2010 at the age of 2, but he sadly died three days later. His friends and family responded with a massive fundraising drive, which included a number of events organised by Oliver’s nursery and his brother’s school such as cake sales, fun days, sponsored walks and a charity ball, which together raised £8,000. Parents also took on challenges including half marathons and dragon boat racing, while sixty youngsters took part in a sponsored swim and donated their pocket money. In total the fundraising efforts resulted in a fantastic £40,000 donation to PICU for new equipment to help future patients on the unit.
Oliver’s mother Lorna Else said: “This is a fitting legacy to our beautiful little boy who was so full of life, love and happiness. We will always struggle to come to terms with losing Oliver. However, we find some comfort knowing that this equipment, purchased in Oliver’s memory, is constantly in use and is making an enormous difference to the children on PICU.”
The money raised has bought a resuscitation trolley, defibrillator, haemofiltration unit, CO2 monitoring equipment and retrieval transport bags. Oliver’s parents Lorna and Jason Else and his brothers Tomás, Samuel and Alexander visited the unit in June with representatives from the nursery and school to see the kit and meet some of the staff.
During the visit Tomás and Samuel were presented with their own name tags to put on the retrieval transport bags, which will henceforth be known as the Tomás and Samuel bags. As a regional centre children can be transported to PICU from around East Anglia. The retrieval bags contain specialist medical kit such as tubes, oxygen masks and dressings to treat a child during the journey to Addenbrooke’s.
PICU’s clinical service manager, Herbert Costrato said: “We are very grateful to the Else family for what they did to give something back to PICU during a very difficult period in their lives. It is very much appreciated by all staff. The contributions of Oliver’s family and friends have been a tremendous help to the unit and to our patients.”
Oliver’s family have set up an online tribute fund is his memory. To donate to Oliver’s fund and support the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Addenbrooke’s please go to:http://tribute.actcharity.org.uk/tribute/Oliver-Joshua-Else
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