Hi, my name is Melissa and I’m the founder of Huggle Buddies. The idea for Huggle Buddies was first born in the heart of The Children's Hospital at Westmead. I was on my break at work and standing in line waiting to buy coffee at Starbucks when a lonely little Nemo balloon floating free on the glass ceiling caught my eye. It got me thinking how much joy giving a balloon just like Nemo to kids staying there would bring. I mean I have to admit, I myself wanted one. But let’s face it, helium balloons aren’t the most practical or long lasting gift. As I stood in line over the next 3 weeks on my coffee breaks watching Nemo float free, one thought kept popping into my head, how could I and others help cheer up kids staying in hospital.
I glanced over to the volunteer shop and that’s when it hit me - toys. Which child doesn't love toys! Most of the children I saw daily were clinging tightly to a teddy bear or soft toy and hanging on to them for dear life. Sadly not all children had toys and the ones that did seemed far happier and comfortable than those that didn’t. It made total sense to me. Now who remembers their favourite teddy or soft toy protecting you from the monsters that hid under your bed or lurked in the shadows? Or shielded you from the strange noises or bumps in the night? Protected you during loud thunderstorms with scary lightning? Made you feel better when you were sick or had boo boos? Gave you someone to hug when the lights went out and just provided comfort overall. I do, my favourite toy was my pound puppy that I adopted one Christmas after Santa left him wrapped under the tree and my second favourite toy was my care bear that my Nanna and Pop gave me. Both no longer share my bed, but they hold a special place in my heart.
Now I know most people find statistics really boring and forget them within minutes of being told them but I need you to see these numbers. There are 5 main Children’s Hospitals throughout Australia and whilst Huggle Buddies plans to bring joy to the children in all of them, during this campaign our main focus will be on ‘The Children’s Hospital at Westmead’. Each year The Children’s Hospital at Westmead provides quality care and treatment to 80,000 sick and injured children. That’s eighty thousand sick and injured children in one hospital alone. Now to put that into perspective for you, that’s enough to fill Parramatta Stadium almost 4x over. Now of those 80,000 children, 51,000 of them are rushed to the emergency department usually with nothing more than what they’re wearing and admitted to hospital. This can be a very scary and traumatic experience for the entire family. And as you’d expect, Mum and Dad don’t want to leave their child's side to go home and grab their belongings and that’s where a gifted Huggle Buddy would come in to help provide a child with comfort and joy.
Now the other 29,000 children are generally referred from treating doctors or transferred from other hospitals without the resources they need to treat them. Children can be transferred from anywhere within the South Pacific region. One such patient was Finlay, who we have asked to be a special ambassador for Huggle Buddies as he absolutely adores his soft toys. Finlay has recently turned 3 but from the tender age of 18months was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive type of liver cancer called Hepatoblastoma for which there is no known cure. Finlay has been so brave in battling this cancer and has sadly spent more than half of his short life in and out of hospital undergoing countless operations and chemotherapy treatments.
It is children just like Finlay that Huggle Buddies wants to help. We have set ourselves a target to give a hundred thousand Huggle Buddies to children in hospital and in order to make this dream a reality, we need your help to do it.
