House draw fundraiser to offer sick children a home from home during treatment

Around one in five people say they take their slippers and tea bags with them on trips away, while some even take home comforts like a favourite mug, a survey has found.

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity carried out the research to highlight an Omaze fundraising draw which gives people the chance to win a luxury home in the Cotswolds worth an estimated £3 million.

Omaze has pledged £10 million for GOSH Charity through multiple house draws over the next five years, with the partnership raising money to help to build a world-leading new Children’s Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Two-thirds (66%) of those questioned said their home is their happy place but for many families whose children are receiving treatment at GOSH, the hospital becomes home for a significant period of time and taking some familiar comforts can be even more important.

Six-year-old Arianna was diagnosed with high-risk stage four neuroblastoma in November 2021, after complaining of back pain, and found wearing her Wonder Woman outfit made her feel more confident during treatment, while family photos and a fluffy blanket also provided comfort.

Soon after being transferred to GOSH, Arianna started on eight rounds of high-dose chemotherapy. She then went on to a UK clinical trial, before undergoing high-dose chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy.

After having her tumour removed in 2023, Arianna recently finished treatment and rang the end-of-treatment bell in January.

Arianna’s mother, Abi, said: “Arianna has always loved Wonder Woman and always wanted to wear her outfit to go into treatment or having an operation that required general anaesthetic – it gave her a boost.

“We were never without it. We also loved coming into hospital with our family photos of Arianna and her sisters, and her lovely photo fluffy blanket that a friend gifted.

“Arianna is our Wonder Woman simply because of how amazing she is. The treatment that she has gone through… and she was always dancing and laughing – her personality never changed and she always had the biggest smile.”

The Children’s Cancer Centre will be a new home for the hospital’s experts to deliver new breakthrough therapies to transform children’s cancer care and save more lives.

It will have new inpatient wards, intensive care units, operating theatres and a day care centre where children can receive chemotherapy, meaning the hospital’s specialist teams can work more closely together in the same part of the campus.

Alongside the clinical services, the Children’s Cancer Centre will also feature a new hospital school and outdoor spaces including a roof garden.

The survey found that 22% of people pack slippers or towels when they travel away from home, 19% take tea bags, 8% pack pillows, 4% take bedsheets, and 3% take a favourite mug or cutlery.

Slippers are not just a choice for older people, with a quarter (26%) of Gen Z respondents – born between 1996 and 2010 – saying they pack their slippers, the same proportion as those from the Silent Generation, born from 1928 to 1945.

Liz Tait, GOSH Charity’s director of fundraising, said: “As we’ve seen from this research, home is the ‘happy place’ for a lot of people in the UK.

“GOSH already provides a home-from-home environment for seriously-ill children and their families, but the hospital now needs a new home for children’s cancer care and other crucial services.

“That makes our partnership with Omaze feel very fitting – the prize draw gives people the chance to win their dream home, whilst at the same time raising vital funds to help the hospital get theirs for children with cancer.

“Despite advances over the last few decades, cancer is still the biggest killer of children aged one to 14 in the UK and we need to do more for the five families who receive a childhood cancer diagnosis every single week.

“We’d encourage everyone who can to enter and to help us beat childhood cancer once and for all.”

Entries for the Omaze Million Pound House Draw, Cotswolds are available at omaze.co.uk

The draw closes on February 25 for online entries and February 27 for postal entries.

– YouGov surveyed 2,097 UK adults online between January 29 and 30.