A specialist portable padded bed means eight-year-old Kyra Lodge from Fitzwilliam near Pontefract is sleeping in safety at home and can finally have sleepovers with her dad and grandma.
Mum Heather Land said the loan of the specialist equipment “is working wonders, I no longer need to worry because she is in a safe place.”
But Kyra needs a permanent bed of her own – and Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children is looking for local heroes to help make this happen.
Kyra has an extremely rare blood disease as well as Cerebral Palsy and developmental delay. She has no awareness of danger and would tear the padding from the sides of her old bed – supplied by statutory services – and eat the foam filling, putting her at risk of choking. In order to keep her safe at night, Kyra and her mum were having to share a bed – but that meant they only averaged a couple of hours sleep a night.
Mum Heather said: “Kyra doesn’t sleep very well at the best of times and will often bang around her bed until someone goes in to see her. The loan bed is working wonders. She will happily go to bed on her own, which never happened before, and she will settle herself – Kyra is now getting about eight hours sleep, which is amazing as before she would get about two or three.”
With no statutory services funding available for the right bed for Kyra, the family turned to Newlife Foundation, which has provided the emergency equipment on loan for around six months. Newlife Foundation is the UK’s largest charity provider of specialist equipment for children with disabilities and terminal illness.
The bed was provided through Newlife’s Emergency Equipment Loans service for children with unstable, life-threatening or life-limiting illness and to help those who face injury due to the absence of appropriate equipment. Items like beds, wheelchairs, specialist seating, buggies and portable hoists are offered on six-month loans and Newlife aims to get the equipment delivered to families’ homes within 72 hours.
Not only will the bed be suitable for Kyra while she is at home, it is easily dismantled and packed away so she can start to stay overnight with her dad and grandma.
Heather added: “Because we can only have the bed on loan for around six months it would be such a shame for her new routine to be ruined, and more importantly her health will once again be at risk. The bed has not only impacted on Kyra’s life it has made difference for the whole family – it’s been a real godsend.”
In response to the growing need for essential equipment in the county, Newlife Foundation launched a dedicated West Yorkshire Fund. The fund’s website – www.newlifecharity.co.uk/westyorkshire – enables local people to find out who needs help in their county right now and highlights the support the charity gives to families. If you would like to find out more, please contact Newlife County Liaison Team on 01543 431 444 or email local@newlifecharity.co.uk.
Kyra’s family is one of 28 in West Yorkshire currently working with Newlife, with equipment needs totalling £42,700. The Newlife Foundation West Yorkshire Fund has already helped 372 children providing them with equipment worth £435,861.
Newlife guarantees that 100 per cent of the money donated to help Kyra will be used to fund her specialist travel bed. Any surplus funding will help provide equipment for other disabled children in West Yorkshire.
Pictured: Kyra Lodge
Web: https://newlifecharity.co.uk
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/newlifecharity
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newlifefoundation
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/NewlifeFoundation
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/NewlifeFoundation
