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After waking up one November morning to find her mother in severe respiratory distress, Ciara managed to get her the medical attention she needed before the worst happened.

However, what initially looked like a single cataclysmic medical event turned into an eight-month hospital admission, where Ciara’s mother endured a series of life-threatening medical occurrences within the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Subsequently, her mother was put onto a breathing ventilator for three months and received full life support due to organ failure.

As Ciara fumbled through the first few months of her mother’s hospitalisation, she discovered there was no space within the medical community (or anywhere else) for the grief and trauma she endured, a result of her mother’s life-limiting illnesses and mechanical ventilation.

During which time, Ciara discovered realities about the medical industry that were just as devastating as the illnesses that assaulted her mother’s body, the physician’s incapacity to acknowledge mortal suffering, a by-product of their medical training.

Surviving The Hospital is a passionate account of her phenomenal journey from daughter to caregiver and how it feels to be at the frontline of critical care as a non-physician.

The disclosures within the book offer practical tips and suggestions for intensive care patients and families and how people can navigate their interactions with physicians and their emotional well being during what is likely to be the worst time of their lives.

Stunningly personal yet applicable for all, the book is a courageous guideline for anyone traversing the pitfalls of critical illness and an alert for physicians to view patients as human beings first and foremost and not a disease.

Supporting the Child and the Family in Paediatric Palliative Care provides a comprehensive overview of good practice in caring for terminally-ill children, young people and their families.

Drawing from extensive personal experiences of working in paediatric palliative care, the author provides guidance on issues including symptom management and pain relief; cultural, religious and spiritual aspects of care; and the role of education for life-limited children. Addressing the importance of individual needs, the book looks at emotional, social and cognitive support at different stages of the illness, how parents and professionals can respond to children’s own questions about death, and the impact of life-limiting illness on the whole family – including grandparents and siblings. The material offers helpful suggestions on how to support families in making informed choices during distressing periods, such as where their child will die and how to prepare for the funeral.

This book is a practical and invaluable tool for nurses, paediatricians, hospice care staff, bereavement counsellors and all those caring for life-limited children.

Aimed at students and practitioners involved in supporting such children, and designed to give them an insight into what it means to raise a child with such multiple needs.’

– Current Awareness Service

‘This book draws on the experiences of a number of families to provide a valuable and deeply moving insight into what it means to raise a child with complex needs. It highlights both the joys and the challenges that families face. In doing so it raises important issues about how services in the UK are currently responding to children with complex needs and their families as well as pervasive disablist attitudes within society. This book will provide students and practitioners from a range of disciplines with a valuable window into families’ lives and challenge them to reflect on how they are supporting them.’

– Sue Kirk, University of Manchester, UK.

Focusing on the real life experiences of children and their families, this book provides valuable insight into living with complex and continuing health needs.

The author highlights the importance of seeing each child as an individual, with the same rights and needs as any other person, rather than defining them by their health condition. The book includes case studies to illustrate the experiences of children, parents, siblings and extended families, as well as professionals in health and social care. These personal accounts discuss both the challenges and the rewards associated with looking after a child with complex needs. The author also provides an overview of the support which is available in healthcare and education systems and makes recommendations for the future.

Anyone who is responsible for supporting children with complex and continuing health needs will benefit from reading this book.