21/08/2026
For four-year-old Hallie, blood tests have been a part of her life since day one. It doesn’t make the experience any less daunting, but thanks to a new venepuncture chair funded by people like you, things are looking up.
Hallie was diagnosed with epilepsy and tuberous sclerosis complex type 2 (TSC2) when she was two months old. It’s a rare genetic condition that causes non-cancerous tumours to grow in different parts of the body, causing seizures. She also has a very rare condition called primary intestinal lymphangiectasia, which affects the lymphatic vessels in the intestine. Together, her conditions mean Hallie has spent a lot of time in hospital and is cared for by a multidisciplinary team at Noah’s Ark, including gastroenterology, neurology, dietetics and immunology.
Hallie initially needed blood tests on a weekly basis. Nowadays, they’re every three months alongside her regular treatment and monitoring, but that hasn’t always made it easy for Hallie, who’s now older and more aware. Mum, Louise, explains: “Hallie is the most confident person talking to doctors and nurses. She likes to get involved, but she has a lot of medical anxiety from being poked and prodded from such a young age .The old venepuncture chair was a bit rickety and that also added to her anxiety.”
Over the years, Louise has found ways to help Hallie prepare for procedures, playing at practising with medical equipment at home. She says the play specialists have also been a great help and because the whole team know her so well, they make sure everything Hallie needs is ready before they begin.
But the venepuncture chair has been the missing piece of the puzzle for Hallie. It’s larger than the one she needed to use before. It can recline and, importantly for a little person like Hallie, it’s big enough for her to sit safely and comfortably on her mum’s lap. It gives her the physical support she needs while allowing Louise to sit with her, hold her arm and provide the comfort only a parent can.
Louise said: “She’ll only sit with me. Having the space for her to sit on my lap makes such a difference.”
The team on outpatients are also seeing the benefits, reporting that the new chair allows blood draws to be carried out more quickly and efficiently, helping to reduce the number of attempts that some children need. This is great news, particularly when you consider that this type of procedure is carried out on around 30 patients every day.
A chair might seem like a small thing. But for a child like Hallie, and for the thousands of other children who’ll use it each year, it will make a very real difference.
This is what your donations help fund. Your support gives families the equipment, comfort and specialist support they need to make difficult moments a little easier, allowing parents to be there, close to their child, when they need it.
And for Hallie, there is some wonderful news. She has now been seizure-free for a whole year for the first time ever. She continues to have regular MRI scans and ultrasounds to monitor the tumours, while medication is helping to keep her stable.
