Holiday Ideas

Keep forgetting to logon to this forum. Anyway, I've just read the posts about holidays and wondered if this would be a good topic for the December newsletter. Members could provide suggestions/ recommendations on places to holiday with a child with a trachy. We had quite an unstable first 18 months with Dominic and chose to wait until he was oxygen and CPAP free before risking a holiday - which we did for the first time last month.

So, to start the ball rolling.....

We went to Centre Parc's Sherwood Forest, we chose this as it is quite near a good teaching hospital in Nottingham. Centre Parc's were very helpful and have a special booking line for people with disabilities. As we were unable to take the cancellation insurance due pre-existing medical conditions Centre Parc's also stated that if we needed to cancel we would be able to rebook. This was tested when Dominic decided to get RSV (in April!) meaning we had to rearrange our original week to June. We were charged to move the week (£30 I think), and had to pay a bit more as lodges in June are more expensive than April, but at least we did not lose all our money either. In hindsight, I maybe should have taken out holiday insurance, but it is not really something I thought about when holidaying in the UK!

There was lots to keep a very active 2 year old busy, but a couple of play areas were in or near sand. But, other than that, and obviously not being able to use one of the main attractions, the pool, there is lots to do. There is also a nurse on site, we never visited, and I'm not sure if they would know how to deal with a child with a trachy, but I found this reassuring all the same.

Looking forward to hearing everyone elses holiday ideas. We could maybe give an award for the most ambitious holiday with a child with a tracheostomy (obviously, I would lose!!!!).

Thanks for Holiday Advice

Just wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and advice for our trip to France. We had a wonderful and thankfully incident free holiday. I'll endeavour to write it all up for the magazine once I've finished the mountain of washing!! Thanks again, Helen, Nigel & Luis x

Holiday Advice

Hi there - just wondering if there was anyone out there that could offer some words of wisdom when it comes to taking a child with a trachy on holiday?

We're going to France in 2 weeks with our son Luis who is 1, we're travelling by ferry (don't want to tackle an airport just yet!) and driving down to the Vendee for one week then back up to Brittany for a second week. I've let the ferry company know about Luis' condition, we have the details for the hospitals in both areas and our paediatrician will contact them, he's also suggested plotting the hospitals en route as a back up for the journey. We've got specialist travel insurance through All Clear (thanks to ACT) and Luis also has an EHIC card. Our community team have been fantastic and we've had all of his supplies for the holiday delivered already. We're getting a summary letter of his condition from the hospital that we're going to get translated into French (la tracheostomy!) and we're doing a holiday emergency contact numbers list - there's just so much to think about and I've not even started on general holiday things such as suntan lotion!

Are there any fellow trachy parents out there that have any hot tips? Is anyone willing to share their holiday experiences, good or bad? Has anyone travelled to the same areas with their trachy kid? Your advice would be really, really appreciated.

Look forward to hearing from you - Helen, Nigel & Luis x

Happy Birthday Bea!

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Bea, one of our committee members (it's ok, I won't give your age away - your younger than me, anyway!) Hope Katie behaves for the next 24 hours ;

Juliexxx

Thank You

Just wanted to say thank you to all the Committee for today's AGM. We all had a lovely day, and were amazed that Dominic happily stayed in the creche too. An extra big thanks too then to the Diana nurses and creche helpers. For obvious reasons, we have only ever left Dominic on a handful of occassions, but knowing he was looked after by such a competent team made the day all the more relaxing. It meant we actually listened to the speakers too, who were very informative - think a trip to Leeds may be on the cards now!

Hopefully we'll be able to make it to the AGM 2009.

Thanks again

Laura, Andrew and Dominic

Just to let you know about a new online publication which has been launched - it is a not-for-profit educational and Special Educational Needs magazine. Go to www.educationbulletin.co.uk to have a look at it. They have requested feedback from those who read it and would be interested in any parents' stories about their childrens' educational experiences, so feel free to contact them. The next issue is due on 20th June.
Amanda

A MESSAGE FROM THE TREASURER

Hi Everyone

GREAT NEWS !

ACT has some great news for its members.
We now have a 'Justgiving' web page which will make it easier for members to DONATE or for you to set up a FUNDRAISING page to which your supporters can contibute.

So OK what's so great about that you may think; well if you send me a cheque for £10, that is all the bank will pay ACT (Don't misunderstand me that's still good for ACT). However, if you are an income tax payer you can go to ACT's 'Justgiving' web page
at http://www.justgiving.com/aidct/donate where you can donate your £10 and we will receive between £11.84 & £11.94 depending on which bank card you use to make your £10 donation.

So why not have a look at the web page, it's a secure giving site, it already has a fundraising page open from ACT member: John Worthington; he is running in a marathon so you may want to support him in raising money for the charity.

Terry Foster
ACT Treasurer