Leven boy is face of charity's Christmas campaign

McKenzie Brackley is the new face of WellChild’s Christmas campaign, which is helping to give families with seriously ill children the confidence to care for them at home.

McKenzie and mum Amy appear in leaflets sent to WellChild supporters across the UK as well as on the charity’s website and in its social media campaign.

The campaign aims to provide more WellChild nurses who can support families through the difficult process from hospital to home and give them confidence to care for their children.

WellChild Children’s Nurses work with families to ensure that children with complex care needs can leave hospital and return home.

The Brackley family received support from WellChild nurses when McKenzie first went into hospital.

The five-year-old was taken seriously ill in 2016 and later diagnosed with Acute Flaccid Paralysis.

McKenzie spent that Christmas in hospital as he was still not well enough to be at home with the rest of his family.

WellChild nurses Linda and Laurie were introduced to Amy and McKenzie soon after that first Christmas in hospital.

He was fitted with a tracheotomy to help him breathe, but his mum found this new and invasive medical equipment hard to get her head around.

Linda gave McKenzie’s granddad and Amy in-depth practical training on using, monitoring and maintaining the equipment McKenzie needs.

Amy said: “She put us through lots of practice, making us do things like an emergency trache change as she looked on, to give us confidence for the times when it would be just me and McKenzie.”

This autumn McKenzie was winner of a WellChild award for the brave and inspiring way with which he dealt with his condition – and he met the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the awards ceremony in London.