Game changers

WHILE most parents were looking forward to Christmas, mum Rubeka Bowen and her husband Andrew suddenly found themselves in the middle of a terrifying turmoil.

- MATT ROPER

Their daughter Jennah, aged five, had just been diagnosed with a brain tumour, and, on their first visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital, they had to watch their scared little girl begin treatment.

That was when Claire Gillman swooped in. She is one of the play specialists who have been making Christmas fun for dozens of sick kids in the world-leading children's hospital over the festive period.

To the youngsters she is a playmate, just as excited as they are to mess with slime, act out stories with dolls or read books in the special playroom. But, in fact, the team is doing a vital job by helping young patients understand their illness, prepare for ops, and lose their fears.

Little Jennah had been so scared she would not let doctors fit the Hickman line to receive chemotherapy - on her chest, until her first play session with Claire, and another play specialist, Lily.

Rubeka, 40, says: "She had been really upset, she was sick and didn't know. what was going on. But they just took her and played away all the fear.

"After going into the playroom with Claire and Lily she came out calm and ready to start her treatment, she knew why she had to have it and what it was for. It was just amazing, mind-blowing.

"They turn everything into play, explaining everything she's going through in a language she understands.

She's been able to go through complete surgical procedures without being fazed at all, and all because of them.

Andrew adds: "When we bring Jennah into hospital now she's not worried at all. It's not the chemo she's thinking about, it's about playing with Claire and Lily, who are her new best friends."