Evelina London Children's Charity

Cherrelle Wharton

Cherrelle Wharton

Cherrelle Wharton

My Story

This year I will be taking part in The London Marathon for the second time but this time I will be raising money for Evelina London Children's Charity.

In September 2021 my youngest son August-James became unwell with a rash and fever we took him to our local (Lewisham) hospitals A&E department who suspected he had an infection but could not locate it, they prescribe some antibiotics however after 3 days it seemed that the antibiotics prescribed were not working and Aj was still unwell so the doctors decided it would be best for him to be admitted into the hospital.

Aj had been in hospital for around a week and had numerous tests, scans and x-rays but the professionals at Lewisham were still unable to figure out what was making him unwell. He was continuing to have fevers and he started to have swelling in his feet and was struggling to walk.

He was then transferred to The Evelina Children’s Hospital on October 6th once at the Evelina Hospital Aj was being seen by the rheumatology, haematology and infectious diseases teams and had further scans and x-rays but still remained a medical mystery.

In the morning of Saturday October 9th Aj woke up with some swelling to his face and was sent to have an eye test he was booked in to have some bone marrow and a lymph nodes tested for Monday. On Sunday morning the anaesthetist came round to meet Aj ahead of the procedure and gave him the all clear but later that evening Aj started to have trouble breathing and was hooked up to the oxygen machine to give him some assistance.

On the Monday morning the anaesthetist and the surgeon visited to do they’re last checks before the procedure but were really concerned with Aj’s breathing so sent him to have a scan of his lungs it was then that the decision was made to admit Aj to PICU he ended up on the ward for a total of 10 days.

Those 10 days were the hardest of our lives seeing Aj hooked up to machines to help assist with his breathing and different tubes placed inside him to give multiple medications it was hard to watch but through it all the doctors and nurses did their best to keep us reassured and keep us updated. We were given a room onsite so that we could always be close by.

Aj was then diagnosed with a condition call Hemophagocytic Lymphohisyiocytosis HLH which is a condition that causes the immune system to overreact to infections.

In total Aj spent 22 days at The Evelina Hospital and was cared for by the Savannah Ward and Forest Ward as well as the Occupation Therapists and Physiotherapist.

I would like to raise as much money as possible for the Evelina Hospital as a way to say thank you and show my appreciation for everything they done for Aj and our family while he was being cared for there and to ensure they have the funds to continue to do what they do and help other families like ours in the future.

Evelina London Children's Charity

Raising for:

Evelina London Children's Charity
88%

Funded

  • Target
    £2,000
  • Raised so far
    £1,769
  • Number of donors
    92

My Story

This year I will be taking part in The London Marathon for the second time but this time I will be raising money for Evelina London Children's Charity.

In September 2021 my youngest son August-James became unwell with a rash and fever we took him to our local (Lewisham) hospitals A&E department who suspected he had an infection but could not locate it, they prescribe some antibiotics however after 3 days it seemed that the antibiotics prescribed were not working and Aj was still unwell so the doctors decided it would be best for him to be admitted into the hospital.

Aj had been in hospital for around a week and had numerous tests, scans and x-rays but the professionals at Lewisham were still unable to figure out what was making him unwell. He was continuing to have fevers and he started to have swelling in his feet and was struggling to walk.

He was then transferred to The Evelina Children’s Hospital on October 6th once at the Evelina Hospital Aj was being seen by the rheumatology, haematology and infectious diseases teams and had further scans and x-rays but still remained a medical mystery.

In the morning of Saturday October 9th Aj woke up with some swelling to his face and was sent to have an eye test he was booked in to have some bone marrow and a lymph nodes tested for Monday. On Sunday morning the anaesthetist came round to meet Aj ahead of the procedure and gave him the all clear but later that evening Aj started to have trouble breathing and was hooked up to the oxygen machine to give him some assistance.

On the Monday morning the anaesthetist and the surgeon visited to do they’re last checks before the procedure but were really concerned with Aj’s breathing so sent him to have a scan of his lungs it was then that the decision was made to admit Aj to PICU he ended up on the ward for a total of 10 days.

Those 10 days were the hardest of our lives seeing Aj hooked up to machines to help assist with his breathing and different tubes placed inside him to give multiple medications it was hard to watch but through it all the doctors and nurses did their best to keep us reassured and keep us updated. We were given a room onsite so that we could always be close by.

Aj was then diagnosed with a condition call Hemophagocytic Lymphohisyiocytosis HLH which is a condition that causes the immune system to overreact to infections.

In total Aj spent 22 days at The Evelina Hospital and was cared for by the Savannah Ward and Forest Ward as well as the Occupation Therapists and Physiotherapist.

I would like to raise as much money as possible for the Evelina Hospital as a way to say thank you and show my appreciation for everything they done for Aj and our family while he was being cared for there and to ensure they have the funds to continue to do what they do and help other families like ours in the future.