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Among the deluge of Christmas TV adverts from John Lewis to Waitrose, there’s one that will truly move you to tears.
The fly-on-the-wall advert footage of the families of seriously ill children spending Christmas at Great Ormond Street Hospital shows the strength, courage and joy in the face of difficulty by these families and the workers who diligently care for them during the most festive time of year.
In the heartwarming two-minute advert, we see the children delighted by the moves of a prima ballerina on the ward, a visit from Santa and his elves and a party filled with sparkling Christmas decorations.
All in all, we see the magical day spent by 12 families and 20 different staff members, all set to the backing track of Coldplay’s All My Love.
One of the children is two-year-old Ruby, who has spent over 700 days, and her first Christmas, at the hospital with an incredibly rare condition called PMM2-CDG, after it was discovered her heart was ‘tiny and squeezed by a black mass’.
Her mum, Elle, said she was ‘so emotional’ when she saw the advert, praising GOSH for ‘pulling out all the stops to make [Christmas] as festive as possible when you have a sick child.
And her dad Steve echoed how anyone would feel after watching the advert.
He said: ‘I couldn’t be more proud, I was moved to tears when I saw the advert. Ruby has been in a critical condition a number of times in the last two years, so to see her shining brightly on screen was a joy.’
After Elle donated a piece of her liver to Ruby, the family are hoping to spend their first full Christmas together at home this year.
GOSH Charity’s Christmas Appeal
By donating to the Christmas Appeal, you’ll help to:
- Find new treatments and cures for the rarest and most complex childhood illnesses, so more children can look forward to many more Christmases to come.
- Bring joy to the wards – from tree decorating with the Play team to carol singing with the chaplaincy team
- Keep families with a child in intensive care together through free accommodation right by the hospital
‘When you’re young, Christmastime should be about getting ready for a visit from Santa, not for lifesaving surgery. Some children have to do both. No child should have to spend the festive period in hospital.
‘But when they have to, we do everything we can to make it feel like home. Because every moment matters for seriously ill children,’ the charitable organisation shared.
The advert has already moved viewers with its poignant portrayal of how some of the most vulnerable in society have their December brightened just that bit more.
‘This is beautiful,’ Coldplay_paradise_moon wrote on Instagram.
‘So beautiful and heartfelt and as someone who spent Christmas day (my 5th birthday) in hospital as a child I know how magical it is to have this experience when you feel your missing Christmas at home,’ cj_b.kind shared.
‘This is so lovely! You work so hard to make really difficult times have glimmers of gorgeousness,’ Supersidwilfred said.
‘Thank you for all the wonderful staff who will be working at the hospital over Christmas. I hope we get to see them on here so we can wish them a happy Christmas,’ Nella Flemming posted.
‘They deserve the world,’ teddicnhdr echoed.
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