As part of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity’s annual Peter Pan Week events, the school celebrated in style with activities, dressing up and a play featuring the teachers and some of the patients!

With patients and their siblings from across the hospital visiting the activity centre, they were treated to a class in how to make a fantastic sword, fit for any pirate adventure.

The children took to it keenly and demonstrated their love for bright colours and lots of sparkles. They were then shown how to make a telescope that any pirate would be proud of!

After the activities and a birthday singalong for Kirsten – who had kindly visited on her special day – the patients settled in for the teachers’ rendition of the classic tale.

The link between Great Ormond Street Hospital and JM Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, is an enduring one. In April 1929 he gave all the rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital and since then the story of the boy who would not grow up has been helping children everywhere.

Every year the charity celebrates this enduring link, with Peter Pan Week. The 2012 event will be happening across the country next week (between 27th February and 2nd March), and hundreds of schools have signed up already. We’re still looking for more schools wanting to take part in Peter Pan themed dress up days and activities.

Simply get your students to dress up as a character from JM Barrie’s book Peter Pan and ask them to make a suggested donation of £1-£2, or anything they can give to help raise funds for the hospital.

Any school that registers receives a free Peter Pan Week dress up day toolkit. This includes stickers, posters, balloons and everything you need to know to make the most of your dress up day. We’ve also got a number of Peter Pan or Peter Pan in Scarlet themed lesson plans for the classroom and videos to show you how to make your very own Peter Pan costume.

If you need any more encouragement to take part, check out our video of the days activities!

If you’re interested in being a part of Peter Pan Week 2012, please visit PeterPanWeek.com!

Get lots more advice about staying at the hospital, for patients and parents on our hospital website. There’s info about referrals, how to get here, the facilities and more videos from our patients!

The last two galas have raised over £1.5 million for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity in aid of an anaesthetic room and a new operating theatre.

A stellar line-up has been announced for the show with comics and TV presenters including Lee Evans, Jonathan Ross, Michael McIntyre, Micky Flanagan, Sean Lock, Kevin Bridges, Jo Brand, Jack Whitehall, Jack Dee, Jon Richardson, Seann Walsh, Lee Nelson, Josh Widdicombe and Paul Chowdhry already announced. More acts will be confirmed soon!

Jane Collins, Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital commented: “What we need most is more operating theatre capacity and that’s why the Channel 4 Comedy Gala is so important to us. We would like to thank Channel 4, Open Mike Productions, each of the fantastic performers and, of course, all those who attend for their fabulous support and generosity.”

Tickets went on sale on Friday and are priced from £40 to £100. You can get them from TicketMaster here.

Find out more about what to expect from the event by visiting Channel 4’s Comedy Gala website, with clips from last year’s event.

Find out more about the redevelopment of Great Ormond Street Hospital and discover why money raised at the Comedy Gala is so important to us.

Diane, 62, Intussusception

“I was born in 1949. My parents and sister lived in a little bedsit in west London with no running water and no kitchen or bathroom.  Some six to twelve months later I became terribly ill: high fever, unable to keep anything down and projectile vomiting!  After a week or so of this sickness, when my Dad put a hot water bottle in the cot and I pulled away from the heat, he realised that this sickly little mite had feelings and should seek further help.

My parents were ‘old school’ and you didn’t bother the doctor unless it was really serious.   The doctor said it was ‘flu, but agreed to send me to Great Ormond Street Hospital where my parents were told that their child was seriously ill and probably had 48 hours at the most.  There was an obstruction in the bowel and an operation was essential.  I’m told that the condition was intussusception and that peritonitis had occurred.  I was there for about a fortnight and my older sister says that her abiding memory was all the tubes poking out of this little body.”

Derek, 49, Hydrocephalus

“I was born in 1962. My early years development was significantly slower than expected; my vision, balance, and co-ordination were all poor for my age; I was unable to stand or even sit up independently. As well as these signs, my head was a much larger size than it ought to have been, and growing too quickly as well.

I was seen by Mr. McNab at Great Ormond Street Hospital, a neurosurgeon, who diagnosed hydrocephalus, and inserted a shunt that went from my brain to my heart. Mum tells me that this surgery was in fact pioneering at the time it was performed.

In 1967 the shunt stopped working so I had a second brain operation that was performed by Mr Eckstein to replace the non-functioning shunt. I remained an inpatient for a month after this surgery and was an outpatient until 1978. I am now happily married with 2 children and 3 grandchildren, and have twice been part of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity’s London Marathon Team. The funds I managed to raise for the hospital, are a small way of trying to give something back but nothing can repay what GOSH has given me!”

Rachel, 33, Coarcatation of the aorta

“I was born in 1978. I underwent cardiac surgery twice at Great Ormond Street Hospital as an infant, and twice more as a teenager, all to repair a coarctation of the aorta.

It is now nearly 20 years since my last operation and since then I have obtained a PhD in zoology, moved to Namibia, got married, and become a mum to a gorgeous daughter!

I think if a child can not only leave Great Ormond Street Hospital with a much better quality of life, but also grow up with only good memories of their time there, as I have, then the staff there have done an excellent job.”

Read more about Great Ormond Street Hospital patients in our “Real Stories” on the Great Ormond Street Hospital website. If you were a patient at the hospital or the parent of a patient you too can share your story.

Two staff members at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, Luke and Jo, have decided to share the pain, anguish and – eventually – joy of the experience of running a marathon with a series of video blogs.

Here is their story so far.

Find out why Jo will be running as a giant apple:

Luke worries a fellow runner with his nutrition:

Jo discovers the downside of lots of training:

Luke braves the cold:

Are you doing a run this year? Keep up to date with Luke and Jo’s training on our regular marathon blog or join our Facebook page to discuss your running and fundraising with fellow supporters. If you haven’t signed up to a challenge yet this year, have a look at our Challenge Events pages and see what you could do – we’ve got runs, treks, skydives, cycle rides and more!

Tissue engineering involves using a donated organ, stripping it of cells from the donor, and rebuilding the organ using the recipient’s own stem cells.  The resulting organ does not trigger the recipient patient’s immune system.

The technique has been used clinically in humans, with the world’s first stem cell assisted trachea transplant in a child at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2010 and with clinical successes in adults at other centres.  Collaborators at other centres have also succeeded in similar development of bladders and urethras, including clinical success in humans.

However, the intestine poses an issue in that in order to work, it is necessary to replicate the complex structure of the intestinal villi.  Previous successes with the technology have been in inherently less complex organs.

Paolo de Coppi, surgical consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and his colleagues have demonstrated in the lab a technique which successfully retains these structures, by removing the original cells through the vascular system.  The resulting scaffold should be suitable for stem cell use and subsequent transplant.

Paolo de Coppi said: “Management of intestinal failure through conventional means poses a number of problems for the patient.  The option of an engineered intestine, made partly from the patient’s own cells, would be an important clinical advance.  This paper represents a step forward and we hope to publish promising studies with human tissue in due course.”

To find out more about research carried out at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the UCL Institute of Child Health visit the Bringing Research to Life website.

You can find out lots more about the history of the hospital on our website. The redevelopment of the hospital is possible thanks to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity supporters. Find out more about where your money goes on our charity site.

Throughout the week, screenings of all The Lion King animated feature films were shown across the hospital network, along with an educational film to give patients a ‘virtual backstage tour’ of Disney’s acclaimed musical. The Lion King themed activity sheets and a competition on the hospital’s radio station Radio Lollipop provided further entertainment for patients.

Thursday’s visit had a special performance, ward visits and a sing-along session with patients and their families. Principal actors from the West End production including Andile Gumbi (Simba), Carole Stennett (Nala), Lindwe Mkhize (Rafiki), Shaun Escoffery (Mufasa), George Asprey (Scar), Damien Baldet (Timon), Keith Bookman (Pumbaa) and Stephen Matthews (Zazu), performed in full costume for groups of excited patients, families and staff at the hospital.

The cast then split into two teams, with half leading an enthusiastic sing-along for younger patients in the school’s activity centre and the other half visiting the wards to ensure no patients missed out.

The London production of The Lion King has been running since 1999 and has been a huge critical and commercial success. It’s been seen by almost 10 million people in the UK and 60 million people worldwide, making it one of the most successful productions in theatre history.

The cast previously visited the hospital in 2009 and left with such great memories that they felt they had to return. The visit was part of The Walt Disney Company’s ongoing partnership with the charity to entertain and engage the hospital’s young patients. A huge thank you to the amazing cast for taking the time to visit and providing a moment of musical wonder for patients, parents and staff alike.

The Lion King visit is part of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity ongoing relationship with Disney. Find out about the many ways that Disney supports us on our website. 

When the doctors start their journey up Mount Kilimanjaro, they won’t just have their immediate surroundings in their minds, as Neil Shah explains: “Although we have made some significant developments at GOSH and the UCL Institute of Child Health, pioneering leading edge treatments for previously incurable conditions, I feel we’re currently at the base camp.  There are  lots of children with gut conditions that are having a huge impact on their lives, but there is little understanding of what’s causing them.”

Each year, the gastroenterology team at GOSH see over 6,000 children with chronic and life-limiting gut conditions.  As a specialist referral centre, the children that come here tend to be those with the most severe symptoms. Children are referred to the hospital because of a range of symptoms, including diarrhoea, vomiting, severe food intolerance, indigestion, pain, constipation and severe rashes.

Dr Shah says: “Sometimes all we can do is identify the symptoms and try to manage these as best as we can with the medications and treatments that are available.  Although we want to really understand why a child is experiencing pain, struggling to digest food, or is suffering from constant diarrhoea or constipation, the chronic underfunding of research into gut disease means we lag behind other conditions in their diagnosis and treatment.”

Despite the common prevalence of gut disorders, children over 3 years of age presenting with conditions such as food allergies have to wait an average of 5-12 years before being formally diagnosed. There are only a handful of doctors in the country who can carry out endoscopies in children.  Doctors here hope that with increased research funding they will be able to revolutionise diagnosis using non-invasive tests and state-of-the-art imaging equipment to look at the physiological changes in the gut.

Some conditions such as intestinal pseudo obstruction, are very rare. For this condition and other gut conditions affecting the nerves in the gut, Dr Thapar is optimistic about the potential to develop stem cell therapies that could potentially replace the damaged or defective cells.

“As we climb our metaphorical research mountain, the land will become more barren and we will spot the odd tree on the landscape.  These reflect the rare conditions and we can study these to understand the genetic nature of rare gut conditions. As we climb towards the top, we will get a good view giving us a better understanding of the territories we need to explore or target.  What are the triggers for these conditions?  What role does the immune system play?  What biological pathways are involved?

“When we reach the summit we will be in a position to offer children with some conditions personalised diagnosis and treatment. Finally, when we start descending the other side of the mountain, we will pick up speed to understand some of the more common gut conditions, truly transforming the management and treatment of life affecting conditions.”

Dr Nikhil Thapar, Dr Neil Shah and the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity supporters are just starting their journey up Kilimanjaro. To support them in this challenge and their quest to transform the understanding of gut disorders, visit their JustGiving page.

To raise money for the campaign, Clinique has created a special new limited edition Kissable Lip Set.

It features the latest lip launch from Clinique, the Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm in Woppin’ Watermelon and these all time Clinique favourites:

• Vitamin C Lip Smoothie Antioxidant Lip Colour in Pink Me Up
• Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss in Raspberry
• Long Last Glosswear SPF15 in Mystic

The special set is housed in a chic silver purse with a specially designed Kiss It Better heart key ring.

The set will be sold exclusively in House of Fraser stores nationwide (excluding Ireland). The set has an RRP of £25 and a fantastic 50% (£12.50) will be donated to the Kiss it Better Appeal for each set bought during the month of February.

Clinique lipstick and lipgloss

A £2 donation will also apply to all Clinique Lipstick or Lipgloss sold at House of Fraser stores nationwide throughout February 2012. £1 will be donated from Clinique and £1 from House of Fraser. 

Kiss it Better pin badges

Pick up your stylish hot-pink Kiss it Better pin badge, £1 from House of Fraser Clinique counters nationwide (excluding Ireland) or from our online shop.

Read why this appeal matters to Jojo Allen or find out more about how to be part of Kiss it Better.