Save a Smile
this Christmas
For children spending the holiday season in hospital, the 'extra' things make all the difference. Your support this Christmas will help to bring hope, comfort, and Christmas magic to sick children and their families across Children's Health Ireland hospitals.
What is the greatest gift you could give a sick child?
By making a donation, you are becoming a champion for sick children and their families across Children’s Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres.
Your generosity helps ensure that every doctor, nurse, psychologist, play therapist, and researcher have everything they need to give every child every chance.
Your support can provide the ‘extras’ that make all the difference:
Play department:
Your gift of €3,000 could help Health Play Specialists bring joy to children when they need it most. Play is a natural and important part of childhood, and in hospital it becomes even more vital. Your support helps provide therapeutic toys, games, and activities that help young patients feel safe, supported, and at home during their stay.
Music therapy:
A gift of €5,000 could help our Music Therapy team support children facing serious illness. In the hands of a trained therapist, music helps young patients cope with treatment, express their feelings, and feel stronger and calmer. Your generosity could bring the healing power of music when children need it most.
Family supports:
Your gift of €10,000 could provide vital support when families need it most. When a child is ill, the whole family needs care. Your generosity could help provide nearby accommodation, psychological support, and practical assistance – ensuring parents can stay close, have a voice in their child’s care, and never feel alone.
Harry’s Story
As a mother, I know the extraordinary difference your generosity can make.
When our son, Harry, was born with a serious heart condition, we spent his first Christmas in hospital, surrounded by machines and uncertainty.
Instead of being at home with his four big brothers and sisters, our tiny baby boy, just a couple of months old, was in hospital, fighting for his life. Nothing prepares you for an experience like that – the impact that level of worry causes you as a parent is indescribable.
Harry is nine now; he’s a funny, sensitive and imaginative boy. On the surface, he is like his peers, but his childhood has left its scars. Harry spent long stretches of his life in hospital. There were procedures, frightening setbacks and, at times, we wondered if he would ever be home again.
He would not be the boy he is today without the exceptional care he received during those stays or the compassionate supports that surround children and their families in hospital. Supports like play therapy, music, counselling, and the spaces that let children be children, even in the most clinical of settings.
This Christmas, please help us to fund these supports to help children like Harry and families like ours. Your donation will fund the extras that make all the difference – play, music, family supports, and the small touches that bring a smile on the hardest days. These are not luxuries. They are lifelines. Your generosity can ensure these vital supports continue for every child who needs them. When Christmas felt like another mountain to climb, supporters like you made sure it still felt magical. That is the impact you have.
So please, if you can, donate today to Save a Smile. Do it for Harry, and for all the children spending this Christmas in hospital. Do it for the parents who will be standing by their bedsides, badly needing the hope your kindness can bring. From our family to yours, thank you.
Wishing you peace, joy, and happiness this Christmas.
Leanne
Harry’s mum