LATCH Welsh Children’s Cancer Charity received a visit from a special guest on 25 November 2009 as Real Radio’s Angela Jay came to the Children’s Hospital for Wales, Cardiff to celebrate the delivery of a gleaming collection of four brand new child-friendly wheelchairs and three mobility buggies.

Angela presented a cheque for an impressive £700 raised by big-hearted listeners to her Breakfast Show to help fund LATCH’s appeal. Also present were LATCH General Manager Denise Henderson, LATCH Senior Social Worker Kay Richmond and Martin Grist from Rookwood Hospital.

Having access to wheelchairs is a huge boost to the families of children on treatment. On leaving hospital, many of these brave youngsters from across Wales find themselves isolated at home as they wait for a hospital wheelchair to become available. These new mobility aids will provide greater independence for the children as they strive to live a normal life in the run-up to Christmas while under the strain of chemotherapy and other treatments.

The Executive Chairman of LATCH His Honour Judge Philip Price QC said:

“Mobility can be a real problem for the children when they are on such aggressive treatment so having access to our own pool of new mobility aids, which will be dedicated to the children who are patients of the oncology unit, makes a huge difference to them and to their families. On behalf of everyone here at LATCH I’d like to thank Invacare, who very generously donated two of the wheelchairs free of charge, and also ALAS at Rookwood Hospital for their hard work in setting up this opportunity and providing free servicing for the equipment.”