Christmas in hospital and no decorations at home

One member of staff, Danielle James, started working as a house assistant after her daughter Harlow waited for open heart surgery in 2022.

”I completely fell in love with the building when I was here,” she said.

“It was a safe place.

”It was always clean, welcoming and the staff were amazing.”

She lives in Tonyrefail, Rhondda Cynon Taf, with partner Cai – a 40 minute drive from the hospital.

”I didn’t want him to leave and then they were like ‘oh no, he can stay across the road’,” she said.

”It was like I could breathe again, we were going to be fine.

“It was a massive, massive weight.”

After her experience, Danielle said: ”I just remember saying ‘I don’t care what I’m doing there, I just need to work there’.”

While she has been helping shower families with gifts and attention recently, Danielle added: ”It’s the little things you don’t think about when you’ve got a child in hospital.”