Our current charity partner is Childrens Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) and we would like to thank all our teams who have raised money during this time. This is how money raised helps CHAS support families in Scotland.
Scotmid have supported Ellie and her family who live near a few of our stores and were always popping into our Warrender/ Marchmont stores while she was in hospital undergoing treatment using vouchers given to them by our membership team to keep the family going while at the hospital.
Here is a short introduction on how Ellie is doing and how CHAS support families across Scotland.
Ellie was diagnosed with CNS cancer, which is pineoblastoma and leptomingeal disease back in 2018. Tumours are located within her spine and head.
After going through many operations and treatments for the cancerous tumours the family are sitting with a stable diagnosis at the moment as there is no cure for Ellie’s cancer. They are currently living life from scan to scan.
As a family they know every day is precious and want to make as many memories with Ellie as possible. This is where (CHAS) comes in giving vital respite 3 or 4 times a year for Ellie and the family. Ellie’s mum Elaine says when you mention the word hospice people have a reaction of oh have things got that bad near end of life ect, but that’s not what it’s about. Rachel house is a beautiful place unlike the hospital there are no bleeping machines, there is no waiting your turn when you press the buzzer. It’s a chilled and relaxed place with your own nurse or support worker there to make our break as relaxed as possible.
The team are lovely they spend all day with your child doing arts and crafts watching films playing Nintendo ect, basically doing whatever your child wants. Before covid there were outings anything from concerts to bowling again doing whatever the child is interested in.
At Rachels House they have a beautiful garden with swings, trampolines and benches. On our last visit in May 2020 Ellie wanted a picnic in the garden as the weather was lovely and between the nursing staff going shopping for Ellie’s list and the kitchen staff preparing it we had a lovely afternoon under the parasol to enjoy our picnic with the nurses and our teddy bears.
The place is absolutely spotless and the food is great, the chefs will try hard to accommodate all tastes. For myself I’m given a beautiful room upstairs in the house. A wee bit of space if I want to go up to read or sleep or just have a relaxing bath. Knowing I don’t need to worry about fixing meds or rushing about to get back to Ellie. I usually go for a wee walk around the area something I can’t do at home if Ellie is asleep knowing that she is in safe hands. Ellie has a wee list of things that’s she would like to do when we next visit weather permitting and if covid allows. What I love about the place the most is getting to spend quality time with Ellie doing fun things and not just the carers role.