CAMPAIGNERS are stepping up their fight in support of the Sick Kids as crunch decisions on its future draw near.
Former brain tumour patient Ross Newlands, 16, from Ferniehill, is to hand in the petition on Wednesday.
So far more than 18,500 people have signed the Evening News-backed petition, with more signatures being added every day.
Web pages have als
o been launched on social networking site Bebo in support of the much-loved children’s hospital.
Campaigners won a key battle when the national steering group, set up to look at specialist paediatric services, recommended neurology should not been downgraded in Edinburgh. They await the group’s decision on children’s cancer with bated breath, but have left Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon in no doubt about their desire to see top level services protected in the Capital.
Ross’s mother, Gail Newlands, 42, said: “If anyone out there has yet to sign the petition we would really appreciate it if they would do so before Wednesday.”
An online petition on Bebo is the latest way people can show their support. The website also urges people to sign our petition with links to the Evening News.
The Hands Off The Sick Kids campaign has also built up cross-party support in Holyrood, with SNP MSPs Ian McKee and Shirley-Ann Somerville meeting with Ms Sturgeon to plead the children’s hospital’s case.
Labour MSP Malcolm Chisholm has also campaigned on the issue in the Scottish Parliament. “
Those involved in reviewing those services assured us that no final decisions have yet been taken but clearly there are concerns,” he said.
Downgrading Edinburgh from level four to level three would see children’s brain tumour treatment, academic training, some types of diagnosis and early clinical trials of new drugs, moved away from the Capital. Medics fear it would trigger a loss of talent and expertise at the Sick Kids.
Liberal Democrat MSPs Mike Pringle and Margaret Smith have urged residents to keep fighting for top level cancer services to be retained at hospital. Mr Pringle said: “Although the fact that the experts recommend that neurological services are retained in Edinburgh is obviously welcome news there has been no definitive word yet over cancer care services.
“As the two fields are so closely linked it is vital that cancer services are also retained at the Sick Kids. Until we have word from the Government nothing can be taken for granted.”
Ms Smith added: “I encourage the Evening News and everyone in Edinburgh that supports the Sick Kids to keep the pressure on the Government so that all its vital services are retained.”
To join our Hands Off The Sick Kids campaign and sign our petition to save services log on to
www.edinburghnews.com. Also to sign the Bebo petition go to www.bebo.com/Save-Sick-Kids
News drive wins Borders backingTHE grandmother of a two-year old girl from the Borders being treated at the Sick Kids has been collecting signatures for our campaign.
Mya Jeffrey, from Hawick, has been receiving chemotherapy at the children's hospital in Edinburgh since October, when she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma – a tumour in her abdomen.
Although chemotherapy will still be provided at the Sick Kids whatever the Health Secretary's decision, Mya's grandmother, Lynn Johnston, of Tweedbank, is still desperate to stop the service being downgraded.
As well as placing forms at customer services in Asda in Galashiels, where she works, her bosses have also agreed to let her take to the shop floor after her shift ends to gather more signatures.
Ms Johnston said: "In October, Mya was complaining of a sore stomach and not feeling well and within a week she'd been to the hospital and had been taken to the Sick Kids.
"She gets really quite sick with the chemo. Glasgow would be an absolutely horrendous nightmare, not just for my granddaughter but for anybody that's living in the Borders.
"Edinburgh is bad enough, because it takes you an hour to get up there."
The full article contains 680 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
