“A Bear Called Mason”
Teddies For Loving Care
A local East Kent Freemason writes..
A school Accident
Something a Grandparent let alone a Parent wants to hear, is that your loved ones have been hurt in an accident.
My Granddaughter Ruby 9 years old, had a bad accident at school and crushed her had badly.
She was rushed to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, but due to the severity of the injury, they were unable to deal with it, so she was sent to East Grinstead to have the hand operated on.
You could not imagine the pain she was going through.
Ruby was then sent down to the operating theatre, where she underwent a 2 hour operation, all the time accompanied by “Mason” her Teddy.
A scheme funded by the generous donations of Local Freemasons, enabled the hospital to give Ruby a Teddy. Giving comfort to the children during what are typically harrowing times, it provides some help and enabled Rugy to smile once more and took some of the pain away.
Philip continues.
The point here is this, as a Mason it was so nice to see the bears which we all contributed to do work in so many ways, just to bring a smile to a child’s face is worth every Penny and the photos are priceless.
Ruby will get full use of her hand and is making good recovery. She called the bear Mason.
Last week we called in to see her, She said to me “Grandad thank you for Mason as he helped me realise what you do”. She also said “do I want it back to give to someone in need like I was?”
This made me realise she will always support Freemasonry. Of course, I told her Mason was hers to keep as Freemasons will continue to supply other bears. Anyway, like I said the first photo is priceless.
written by Philip Lambkin
South Kent Lodge No 4303
I am sure that every member of the Province of East Kent, sends love and best wishes to Ruby and her family. A big thank you to Philip and Ruby for sharing this story.
Supported by Freemasons
The work of TLC is funded through the generous donations of Freemasons, their families and supporters of the programme. Many Freemasons also volunteer hundreds of hours each year to manage the scheme, deliver bears to hospitals, campaign to raise funds and increase awareness through events and talks.
There are 47 regional TLC programmes across England and Wales that provide teddies for their local A&E departments. Once a hospital joins the scheme they can replenish teddies on request through their local TLC representative. Some TLC programmes also donate a portion of their funds towards teddies for minor injuries units, children’s wards and hospices; there are even teddies flying on air ambulances!
SUPPORT TEDDIES FOR LOVING CARE
TLC
The TLC teddy bears really help us to calm young patients down and assess their needs as soon as possible
We need your stories, so please let the comms team know of the the good work your Lodges and Chapters are doing throughout East Kent. Just drop us a line on news@ekprovince.co.uk