News

Hari’s heading home with a guard of honour

By Chris Hill · July 22, 2020

Hari leaving Alderhey Hospital

The hard work of WellChild Nurses was in the spotlight this week when four-year-old Hari was given a guard of honour by Merseyside police as he left Alder Hey Children’s Hospital after a 14 month stay. 

Hari, who has a rare genetic disease, was cared for by WellChild Children’s Nurses Elaine O’Brien and Sue Mounsey along with other staff at the hospital. Thanks to their hard work he has now been able to go home to Caegwyn in Wales. 

Hari absolutely loves the emergency services, especially the police force, and was met by police cars, vans, bikes, officers and police dogs to give him the send-off he deserves and escort him home. Merseyside Police also arranged for his local police force in Wales to meet him on his return. 

Hari was in hospital due to respiratory failure and a condition called X-linked myotubular myopathy that primarily affects the muscles used for movement.  

Mum Ellen said “We can’t thank the staff at Alder Hey enough and Merseyside Police, they have been amazing, and we want to say a big thank you for everything they’ve done and for getting us where we are today. We’re very excited to get home but we’ll miss everyone here.” 

Hari at Alderhey Hospital with Policeman

There are two WellChild Nurses based at Alder Hey who work with Hari and children like him in order to get them out of hospital as soon as possible to be cared for safely at home with their families. Elaine is WellChild Advanced Nurse Practitioner for Long Term Ventilation and she provides children requiring long term ventilation with specialist expertise, advice, support and care. Sue is WellChild Nurse Specialist-Parent Trainer and she works as part of the Long–Term Ventilation Multidisciplinary Team providing training to parents and unpaid carers in a variety of healthcare skills. Bespoke training is offered to families using a mixture of techniques including the Better at Home Suite based at Edge Hill University. 

WellChild Chief Executive Colin Dyer said: “It is great to see this example of the work that WellChild Nurses are doing for seriously ill children and families in hospitals and homes up and down the UK every day. It was wonderful to see Hari leave Alder Hey hospital to be greeted by his guard of honour and we are proud that the work of WellChild, our nurses and our supporters, is leading to positive outcomes for many children like Hari, giving them the chance to be cared for at home with their families.”