Jessica’s daughter Mirissa was born prematurely at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. She spent time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and is still under the care of various children’s services. In this video, Jessica talks about her positive experience of the hospital and its staff.
Watch the video or read the transcript below.
Becoming part of the hospital community
Our experience of Chelsea and Westminster paediatrics and the children’s services has been overwhelming – but overwhelmingly positive.
It’s almost like a second home to us, or even like a home. We’ve spent Christmases, New Year’s Eves and birthdays in the hospital.
We’ve got to know so many of the staff, from the healthcare support workers to the catering staff, the nurses, the consultants and the A&E staff.
It’s a lifeline for us there.
Mirissa's early arrival
Mirissa was born extremely premature, at 26 weeks, and she was admitted to the NICU at Chelsea and Westminster, where she stayed for three-and-a-half months.
As a result of her prematurity, she then had lots more ongoing problems.
Mirissa gets very sick very often, and specifically with her lungs. She suffers from chronic lung disease, and she often gets very bad chest infections and pneumonia, so she often has to be admitted to the hospital.
Finding comfort through art
The CW+ Arts Programme at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has been so amazing for us.
It’s really brought so much relief and comfort when Mirissa has been in a private room in high dependency, or she’s been in the ward when the puppeteers come around to cheer her up, or the mime artists come blowing bubbles and pulling rabbits out of hats.
Someone even came round with a harp, and the music was just so beautiful.
The calming environment
The environment at the hospital is, ironically, really calming. Even Mirissa loves the art.
There’s a particular string hanging from the ceiling of birds and clouds that she loves to look at, and she now recognises it every time she goes back to the hospital.
The artwork is really distracting and it takes you away from your thoughts and your worries.
There’s even a secret garden on the roof that we literally only discovered after a year of already being at the hospital.
Mirissa got to have a little run around in there. It was like our own sort of secret haven.
Having more than hope
For anybody thinking about donating to the Thirty at Thirty campaign, I really urge you to.
The scariest experience that we ever had at the hospital was one night when Mirissa stopped breathing. All I really remember was somebody saying:
‘Mum, I need you to move that bed out of the way. A lot of people are going to come running in here very fast.’
I was so desperate. I really thought the only thing that I had was hope, and I was just saying:
‘Please don’t die, please don’t die.’
And now, looking back, and looking forward, I know that we had so much more than hope.
We had a dedicated team of staff. We had all the space and all the medicine and all the equipment needed to help Mirissa.
And we had a miracle.
Mirissa is a miracle, but it’s your donations that make these miracles happen.
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Arts in Health programme
Our Arts in Health programme builds on the body of evidence that design and engagement with the arts can improve physical and mental wellbeing.
