Joan Marston swoops Jose into her arms. “Hello beautiful boy,” she says, kissing the toddler’s forehead as he croons with delight. Jose is two years old and has trisomy 13, a rare condition caused by an extra copy of chromosome 13. He is one of 15 young patients at the Sunflower Children’s Hospice, based in a house wrapped in trees and shrubs next to Bloemfontein’s National District Hospital.
Joan understands the pain of losing a child. Her first son died as a baby due to a brain anomaly. After that, Joan and her husband, Richard, had another son and a daughter. “Having my own two children who are lovely and healthy may have played a part in my passion to help others less fortunate,” she says. “The other part simply is I’ve always had a specific connection to children. Also, it was really just seeing all those kids suddenly referred to me, and they were dying.
Joan started working with the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa in 2002, setting up children’s care centres around the country. She insists that children’s palliative care requires specialised staff — with specialised pain relief, opioid management, communication and play skills — and cannot simply piggyback off services for adults.In 2005 she was the co-founder and first chair of the International Children’s Palliative Care Network at a conference in Seoul, South Korea.
Like South Africa, Ukraine has budgetary constraints. “It’s a very poor country and it has this ongoing war with Russia on its borders, you know. If you look at the history of Ukraine, apart from the corruption they really have had tragedy after tragedy. They are lovely people, though. I love my Ukrainian friends, they are accomplishing great things with such limited resources.”
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Zimbawean companies face closure over severe power cutsConfederation of Zimbabwe Industries calls for urgent measures as 'loss of revenue runs into millions' due to power outages marinavanzyl Matshela Energy is coming to their rescue, pretty soon, isn't it so koko_matshela ?
Source: BDliveSA - 🏆 12. / 63 Read more »
Source: IOL - 🏆 46. / 51 Read more »
India's selectors face questions over life after DhoniFinding a replacement for Dhoni will top the agenda when India's selectors meet in Mumbai on Sunday to pick the squad for the tour of West Indies.
Source: SowetanLIVE - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »
Source: IOL - 🏆 46. / 51 Read more »
Source: SABC News Online - 🏆 32. / 51 Read more »