For parents whose children require extended medical care, the challenges often continue long after they leave the hospital. Repeated trips to appointments, food expenses and the cost of everyday necessities can place significant pressure on households already struggling to make ends meet.
This is the reality facing many families at Cape Town’s Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, where the financial demands of caring for a sick or injured child can become an additional burden during an already difficult time.
As the hospital celebrates its 70th anniversary, its fundraising organisation, the Children’s Hospital Trust, is launching a 70-day festive season campaign to raise R5 million for families who need support.
The funds will go towards the trust’s Family Care Project, which provides practical assistance to parents and caregivers while their children receive treatment.
A single journey to the hospital can cost a family up to R300. For parents attending regular consultations, specialist appointments and rehabilitation sessions, these expenses can quickly accumulate. The financial pressure is often made worse by lost income from time away from work, meals during hospital visits and the cost of caring for other children at home.
Children’s Hospital Trust CEO Chantel Cooper says a child’s illness or injury affects the entire family, particularly as the rising cost of living continues to stretch household budgets. The campaign aims to ease some of these expenses so parents can concentrate on their children’s recovery.
The Family Care Project works alongside the hospital’s Social Work Department to identify families experiencing financial difficulties and determine what assistance they need. Since 2022, the initiative has supported more than 8 000 families, including those caring for newborns requiring specialist surgery, children born with complex medical conditions and young patients needing ongoing assessments and therapy.
The assistance ranges from food vouchers and transport subsidies to hygiene products, emergency clothing and snack packs. Between January and May 2026, more than 900 families received food vouchers, while over 740 patient journeys were subsidised. During the same period, the project distributed 779 hygiene packs, 794 emergency clothing sets and 2 210 snack packs to children and their families.
For Jud Govender, affectionately known as Aunty Judy, the difference often begins with something as simple as a snack. As the Family Care Project coordinator, she regularly moves through the hospital delivering food packs to children spending long hours at clinics. The packs contain everyday items such as instant oats, water, crackers, peanut butter, jam and crisps.
Beyond food, the project also provides essentials such as blankets for grandparents staying overnight with young patients and toiletries for teenagers facing lengthy hospital stays. Govender says these small gestures can bring comfort to families carrying burdens that are not always visible to others.
One family who experienced this support first-hand is that of two-year-old Hunter, who was caught in a fire at home. The toddler spent nine and a half days in an induced coma, underwent two skin grafts and received weeks of intensive treatment. He faces another two to three years of ongoing medical care.
While Hunter was fighting to recover, his mother, Robyn, had the additional challenge of rebuilding the family’s lives after the fire destroyed their belongings. The Family Care Project stepped in with clothing, toiletries and shoes for Robyn and Hunter’s siblings, as well as assistance with transport costs.
For Robyn, the support provided much-needed relief. She recalled how the family had previously washed their children’s clothes every night to ensure they had something to wear the following morning. Receiving replacement essentials meant one less worry while she focused on caring for her son.
With the festive season approaching, the trust hopes the campaign will encourage more South Africans to support families spending the holidays navigating hospital visits, treatment and rehabilitation.
Cooper says donations of any size can help provide groceries, clothing, toiletries, blankets and transport assistance. The aim is to make sure parents do not have to choose between managing their finances and being beside their children when they need them most.
South Africans who would like to contribute to the R5 million fundraising target can donate through the Children’s Hospital Trust’s official campaign page.
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