Record breaker launches charity to support children left alone in hospital

A renowned fundraiser and extreme adventurer is launching a new charity to help sick children in hospital.

Jamie McDonald, 39, who is also known as Adventureman, has launched the charity Ward Buddies which aims to end emotional abandonment for children in hospitals.

The charity’s team will provide companionship and emotional support to young patients who find themselves alone on the ward – stepping in as a “Buddy” when loved ones cannot be by their bedside.

Ward Buddies’ medical experts, who include paediatric doctors and nurses and a child psychologist, describe unvisited children becoming withdrawn and depressed, with low moods and increasing behavioural issues over time.

Jamie McDonald is launching a charity to help children isolated in hospital (Jamie McDonald/PA)

They said some children even struggle to recover physically or to adjust back to normal life after discharge, carrying the emotional scars of their hospital isolation.

Mr McDonald, who suffered from a debilitating immune deficiency and the potentially fatal spinal condition syringomyelia as a child, spent the first nine years of his life in and out of children’s hospitals.

Years later, through therapy, Mr McDonald discovered that those isolating hospital stays – when his parents were often unable to visit – had left him with lasting feelings of abandonment.

“No parent wants to leave their child alone in hospital,” said the former tennis coach, from Gloucester.

“But many are kept away due to work, distance, or caring for other siblings.

“Doctors and nurses do their best, too, but they’re stretched thin. It’s nobody’s fault.

“But the result is children being left utterly alone in their hour of need. Ward Buddies bridges that gap.

“It’s about making sure care of the heart is treated alongside care of the body for children during recovery.”

At the heart of Ward Buddies is a small team of specialist staff – including a doctor, an assistant psychologist, and a peer support worker – who bring professional expertise to each child’s emotional care.

The Ward Buddies charity will help children isolated in hospital during admissions (Jamie McDonald/PA)

The charity’s launch follows a successful, six-month pilot at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and is now appealing for donations to expand the programme.

“We’re calling on the wonderful people of the UK to donate, volunteer, and share our story,” said Mr McDonald, a father-of-three.

“We truly believe we can end this hidden crisis – but it’s a long road ahead, and we’ll need the nation’s help to get there.

“Every single donation, big or small, makes a huge difference.

“Let’s show kids alone in hospitals that they are not forgotten, they are not alone, and we are ready and willing to do what we can to get them the emotional support they so desperately need.”

Mr McDonald is planning on dusting off his Adventureman superhero suit for a new, epic, fundraising challenge this December to rally support and donations for Ward Buddies.

In 2019 he broke a Guinness World Record for the distance covered in a week on a treadmill.

That came weeks after he completed a 5,500-mile, 210-marathon, coast-to-coast fundraising run across the US, unsupported.

He has previously run across Canada dressed as superhero The Flash.

Mr McDonald came to prominence in 2012 when he cycled 14,000 miles from Bangkok to Gloucester on a £50 secondhand bike.

Just weeks after returning to Gloucester, he set a world record for cycling nonstop on a static bike.

In February 2013, two months after setting that world record, he began his run across Canada.