In my recent post I shared with you my surreal yet normal life within the children cancer ward at Southampton General Hospital.
My son was gravely ill 12 years ago and Piam Brown the children oncology ward in Southampton saved his life.
Dave Bowring from Eastleigh Lions Club wrote in this comment:
“As you suggest in your article, it is traumatic enough to have a hospitalising condition and the need to stay in hospital for any length of time for young children is difficult for all concerned.
At Eastleigh Lions Club (now in our 50th year of service to the local community) we recognised this several years ago and prepared and supplied Bravery certificates, which can be handed to all children who have to be hospitalised. A couple of years ago we had another batch printed and delivered them to the hospital as the staff say “although it may only be a piece of paper, it does help the youngster’s recovery to be “certified Brave” when that is exactly what they have had to be while being treated.”
By Dave Bowring, from Eastleigh Lions Club.
After reading Dave’s comment, I took out my old folder and found exactly a few certificates for my son issued by Eastleigh Lions Club in 2001 and 2002.
Normally these certificates were issued in the most bizarre situations. Soon after my son came out of the operating theatre and was wheeled out to us, barely conscious, a smiling nurse would hand us the certificate: “Oh, don’t forget the certificate!” Then she would tell us, “Ben has been very brave today.”
Here are some of our precious certificates.
Actually, after a 13-month-old baby had just come out of the operating theatre, having a central line put in, having a six-inch cut across the belly, and bits taken for biopsy, receiving a Bravery Certificate could not have been more comical. How would a baby have understood his ‘bravery’? In life, sometimes you have no choice. My son had no choice but he had to go through tests and operations. Perhaps it was his parents who deserved the Bravery Certificate?
How writing helps linking the past and present
Writing for this website has given me a chance to link the past to the present and weave stories together. I’ve seen how our lives in the community are connected despite time and space. Discovering the connection is incredible. For over 10 years, I have kept all the Bravery Certificates from the hospital without paying much attention to them.
Now thanks to Dave Bowring’s explanation, I’m able to examine the certificates again, and I would like to thank Eastleigh Lions for their kind thought for the sick children in the hospital, and their service to the community.
Mother’s hope
With maturity, hopefully one day my child would be able to appreciate some critical moments of his young life through these Bravery Certificates, and he will always be thankful for the people who love, care, and support him, and he’ll show empathy to the people around him, learning to love, care and contribute to the community, just like a Lion.
Article Series
- Life In Children Cancer Ward At Southampton General Hospital
- Eastleigh Lions: Bravery Certificates
- My Turning Point: Why Communication Matters
- Article Series: Eastleigh Lions: Message In A Bottle
- World Sight Day: Lions Club of Eastleigh Supports Open Sight
- Santa’s Grotto at Brambridge Park – Christmas 2015
- Article Series: Eastleigh Lions: Champions of the Blind
- Inspirational Eastleigh Volunteers Fair
- Eastleigh Lions: Brambridge Park Santa’s Grotto 2014
- Eastleigh Lions: Bravery Certificates
- Eastleigh Lions: £1000 To Eastleigh Basics Bank
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Maybe Ben did not have a choice over what he had to go through but he did have a choice about how to respond to it all. In that choice he was guided and encouraged by his parents and the staff to be brave.
So glad that the outcome is a happy one.