Scottish singer, songwriter, Ben Walker gave one teenage patient a day to remember when he surprised her with a Christmas visit at the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow.
Freya Brown (14) from Cambuslang was born with Pulmonary Atresia of her heart with VSD. Since Freya was born prematurely, she has been under hospital care.
At two days old, she had a shunt fitted in her heart. When she was one, she had open heart surgery to replace the conduit between her heart and her lungs. When she was six, she had the conduit replaced again. At 14, due to the pressure on the right hand side of her heart becoming too much, her conduit needed replaced again.
This surgery took place at the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow this month.
It was a 12-hour surgery followed by a tough recovery for Freya in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. Her dad explained how he had an idea to boost Freya’s moral while she was in hospital.
“I messaged Ben Walker on Instagram and asked if he could maybe do a get well video message for her. Freya had saw Ben live a few times, followed him on Instagram, and she was always talking about how good he was. Ben replied saying he would be in Glasgow and offered to pop in and visit her. We kept in touch and, after I had checked with the ward, Ben came to surprise Freya the night we were due to be discharged. He spent a few hours with Freya which was great, but even before that, he was asking how she was getting on after her surgery and messaging to check in. It was good of him.”
Ben explained that the whole experience made him emotional.
“When Martin messaged me about Freya, I had a bit of a cry to be honest. Freya is made out of something different. Out of all the people that Martin could have messaged, he messaged me. Freya really wanted to meet me. It felt really wholesome.
“I was more nervous about meeting Freya than I was about going on stage. I was going meet this young girl, who thinks the world of me, and just to see how much that meant to her was emotional. You get opportunities to be good and kind to people, and if I can give back I will,” he said.
Ben spent two hours on the ward with Freya and her family, chatting about school, her favourite subjects, when she was getting home and how she was looking forward to having ice cream and watching Netflix when she got home.
Freya first saw Ben perform at a YPI (The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative) event which led to her becoming a huge fan.
Mandy Meechan, Chief Nurse, Paediatrics at the Royal Hospital for Children said:
“It has been a huge month of exciting visits on the wards and Ben coming in to see Freya was the icing on the cake. This is a major surgery with a tough recovery so happy moments like this make a huge difference. We’re delighted that Freya will be at home enjoying Christmas with her family. She has an exciting future to look forward to.”
