At just four weeks old, Evie was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis following a routine newborn screening. Within days, her family’s world shifted from home in Chinchilla to hospital, beginning years of specialist appointments, medications and regular admissions at Queensland Children’s Hospital.
Every day, the sickest children from across Queensland leave the places they call home to receive life-saving care at Queensland Children’s Hospital. One in three travels from outside Greater Brisbane, often spending weeks or months away from everything familiar.
Children’s Hospital Foundation delivers the wrap-around care that transforms hospital from a place of fear into one of comfort and hope – funding groundbreaking research, innovative therapies, play spaces, library services and essential family support.
And this tax time, your donation can help make hospital feel more like home for sick kids like Evie.
When hospital becomes a second home
In her early years, Evie’s condition required ongoing monitoring and annual “tune-up” admissions. But during her first year of school, she suddenly became critically unwell. After crashing during a routine appointment, she was rushed to emergency and admitted for an extended stay.
An environmental infection had severely impacted her lungs, leading to chronic complications that would shape the years ahead.
Hospital soon became a second home. Admissions were rarely short, often lasting a minimum of two weeks and sometimes stretching to six.
Evie required a port for IV treatments and a feeding tube to support her nutrition. There were countless procedures, physiotherapy sessions and medications – all while navigating the isolation that comes with cystic fibrosis, where strict infection control limits contact with other children on the ward.
For Evie, the hardest part wasn’t always the treatment – it was the loneliness. Time away from school, friends and the simple rhythms of childhood made hospital life feel even heavier.
“It’s a long time when they should be at school with their friends, mucking around and just being kids,” Evie’s mum, Lee, says.
“She just wants to go home, to her own bed, to her friends, to be seen as normal. Hospital is lonely. It’s not where a child should grow up.”
How donations transform clinical spaces
During Evie’s long admissions, Children’s Hospital Foundation played a vital role in helping hospital feel less clinical and more comforting. A little more like home.
- Foundation-funded programs brought colour and connection to Evie’s bedside – art packs, gift packs and play-based distractions that helped her through procedures and long days.
- Therapy dog visits were especially meaningful, offering calm, companionship and a reminder of life at home.
- Practical supports mattered too. Frozen meals available on the wards ensured her family didn’t have to leave her bedside during critical moments.
- Simple items – a colouring book, a small gift – often became essential tools to help Evie endure painful procedures or difficult treatments.
Breakthrough medications eventually transformed Evie’s outlook. Early access to new therapies significantly improved her strength and lung function and the wrap-around care from the Foundation supported her emotional wellbeing.
“It definitely does not go unnoticed from parents, families and the children themselves,” says Lee.
“Every dollar that’s donated – you could not put a value on it for the joy and the ease it makes of some treatments.”
Donations of $2 and above can be claimed when submitting your tax return. This year at Children’s Hospital Foundation:
- $30 can help provide fun for a sick kid by funding an in-hospital craft session
- $50 can help give kids a sense of comfort and calm by bringing a support dog into the ward
- $100 can help bring joy and laughter through a specialised music therapy session.
Your donation can make a difference this tax time
Thousands of sick children and their families make the journey to Queensland Children’s Hospital each year. Leaving behind their homes, friends and support network to face the unknown.
When hospital becomes a child’s second home, we deliver the wrap-around care that helps make hospital feel more like home, so even in their hardest moments, children feel safe, supported and surrounded by hope.
“Right now, at Queensland Children’s Hospital, there are parents and children on the wards – away from home and everything they love,” shares Nick Van Dyke, Children’s Hospital Foundation Director of Impact.
“But your generosity stands beside them, helps save lives and gives children the very best possible care and the best opportunities to thrive. By putting your money into something like this, you can bring genuine happiness and joy to children.”
Today, Evie is now 12. While cystic fibrosis remains part of her life, hospital visits are less frequent and her health is more stable.
Evie’s story is a reminder that hospital care is more than medicine.
It is also about protecting childhood, easing fear and creating moments of joy in the hardest places. For children like Evie, the Children’s Hospital Foundation transforms hospital from a place of treatment into a place of comfort, hope and connection – a place just a little more like home.
Together we can help make hospital feel more like home. Make a tax-deductible donation now.
The difference that shapes their world
Through supporting the Children’s Hospital Foundation, you can improve childhoods and ensure all children and young people have access to treatment - sooner.
