Professor Kim Oates - Chief Execuitve

Through our cutting-edge clinical programs, ground-breaking research and training, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead has become known the world over as a leader in child health. Supported by a dedicated team of professionals, we provide the best possible standard of care for sick children from all over New South Wales, other states and even other countries. Our Hospital receives significant funding from the state government, but because there are so many children suffering from such a wide variety of conditions (too numerous to mention here), we rely heavily on additional support from the community – generous people just like you. We continually strive for treatment for our young patients that will mean shorter hospital stays, and for cures for life threatening diseases where, as yet, none have been found. There are many ways that you can help The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, and one of the most important is by making a gift through your Will – no matter how large or small, your bequest is vital to us. It’s a very special gift that promises better health for children now and for generations to come. Over the years some of our long-term supporters, and others not known to us at all, have generously remembered the Hospital in their Will. In this way, we are guaranteed that our vision and values for the future continue unchallenged. Everyone should have a valid Will. It is the only reliable way of making appropriate provision for your family, to leave gifts to close friends and to extend your compassion and support for the charities you care passionately about. I personally feel so strongly about the difference a bequest can make to our young patients, that I have altered my Will in a way that will still provide for my family, but also leaves a portion of my estate to the Hospital.

If you would like more information on making a bequest to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, please contact Carol O’Carroll by phoning (02) 9845 3463 or email: carolo@chw.edu.au. Your generosity will help us to secure the future of our Hospital and help us to continue providing the excellence in health care for which we are so well known. Your bequest will help us change young lives for the better today and well into tomorrow.

Cecily’s Story

Cecily and Mark Sullivan are both in their early 30s, and are the very proud parents of Jessica, a happy, healthy baby of 10 months. Jessica was born at Westmead Private Hospital, just down the road from The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. It was incredibly reassuring for Cecily and Mark to know that if anything were to go wrong with their first born child, the best paediatric care possible would only be a stone’s throw away. Fortunately everything went to perfection with Jessica’s birth in July 2001, but it got Cecily and Mark thinking, that things may well have been very different. These thoughts coincided with the realisation that they, as new and responsible parents, would need to start planning for Jessica’s future and the future of any other children to follow. Recently with the help of their solicitor, Cecily and Mark drew up their Will. Their child has been well provided for and through a bequest, so have many sick children at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Cecily and Mark feel so incredibly blessed that their beautiful little girl is so healthy, they want to do anything they can to help other kids who are not so fortunate. They want to put their hard-earned money to the best possible use, and believe that a bequest to the Hospital will guarantee that many children benefit, whereas leaving money to a relative or friend may be beneficial to only one person.

Ernie’s story

Although Ernie has never married or had children of his own, he absolutely adores kids. He has been a supporter since the Hospital was at Camperdown and thinks that his first donation was probably around 10 Pounds. Today Ernie belongs to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead’s Circle of Friends, a program wherein members pledge their ongoing support through monthly, quarterly or yearly donations. Ernie made the decision to bequest to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead quite some time ago. His motivation for doing so was because of his love for children, and that he “likes to see good things happen to them”. He says that he’s not short of money, and enjoys the assurance of knowing that the day his ‘number comes up’ he will have done all he can to make a huge difference to the lives of sick children in the future. Over the years, Ernie has demonstrated his passion for children and his belief that they hold the key to the future, by giving generously of his time. Until recently, he voluntarily worked a four and a half day week at a day care centre which backs onto his home in Botany. (Coincidentally, this centre was built on land owned by his ancestors until it was sold in 1994). He has continued visiting sick children now that the Hospital is established at Westmead and was absolutely thrilled to be invited to its official opening which was, in his view, an extremely auspicious occasion. Ernie’s only niece and nephew (now in their early 50s) suffer from retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary eye condition which begins in childhood and usually progresses to complete loss of vision. He makes donations for research into this disease, as well as being a generous supporter of the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children. On any given day, you’ll find Ernie watching out for the kids at the day care centre (from over his back fence), visiting sick children at the Hospital, or in the volunteer gift shop buying presents for children who are friends or family. And you’ll often find him on the golf course too!

June’s Story

June Nuttall’s only son Lloyd Robin was 22 years old when he died in the early hours of 1 November 1982 – June’s Birthday. The last time June saw Lloyd alive was the previous evening, after he’d wrapped up her gift, kissed her goodnight and gone to bed. June’s husband and Lloyd’s dad had passed away in 1976, so there was just the two of them living in the family home. Lloyd suffered from a very rare form of asthma called tension pneumo thorax, but in 22 years had only ever had two attacks. The first was in Tasmania while on a bicycle riding holiday, the second was the morning he died, a particularly vicious attack which was all the more insidious because of the rapidity with which it began. June went through a period where she was plagued by thoughts that there may have been something she could have done to prevent Lloyd’s death. She was reassured by doctors that there was nothing, in fact Lloyd’s condition was and is still so rare, that very little is known about its cause or how it should be treated. There is not a day that goes past without June thinking about her beloved son, and she says that until recently, she often thought to herself, “Before I die, there’s just got to be something I can do to stop other people suffering from this terrible condition.” Last December June and a friend were involved in a near fatal accident. During a terrible storm, as they were leaving the church hall after a game of Bridge, an enormous tree fell on them both. Although badly injured herself, June was very fearful that her friend had been killed, but fortunately this was not the case. During the several months it took her to recover from the back injury she had sustained during the accident, June spent a great deal of time reflecting on Lloyd, the accident, and on the fragility of life. This was when she resolved to fully commit to making a bequest to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Guided by the Hospital’s Bequest Officer, June recently made arrangements in her Will for the establishment of The Lloyd Nuttall Respiratory Fellowship. Her generosity will support research into tension pneumo thorax, the training of specialist doctors and medical equipment for the Department of Respiratory Medicine.