When Gail McBride’s son Cooper was booked in to have his tonsils and adenoids removed at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, medical staff told her that they shouldn’t go back home to Gympie straight away.

[caption id="attachment_1464" align="alignleft" width="205"] Brave little Cooper[/caption]

When Gail McBride’s son Cooper was booked in to have his tonsils and adenoids removed at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, medical staff told her that they shouldn’t go back home to Gympie straight away.

“They warned me that there’s always a chance of complications and that we would have to stay on the Coast for two weeks,” Gail said.

“I thought it was an unnecessary precaution and it was also quite inconvenient as I had another child at home too.

“But I decided it was safest to take the doctor’s advice and contacted Wishlist’s patient accommodation at Reed House next to the Nambour Hospital and booked us in.”

It proved to be the best decision Gail could have made for her eight-year-old son.

“Cooper’s surgery went as planned but things turned seriously bad very, very quickly,” Gail remembered.

“He woke up choking on his own blood, suffering a bleed from the surgery site.

“It was a terrifying situation but with the support of the ladies at Reed House and another mother staying there, I could get Cooper the help he needed.

“I really was one of the people who thought, ‘that won’t happen to my son’, but complications happen all the time. If we had not been at Reed House, the outcome for Cooper could have been a lot worse.”

Cooper was treated immediately at the Nambour Hospital then transferred to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital for further treatment.

“Having a safe and comfortable place to base ourselves while he was sick made a huge difference to us,” Gail said.

“The ladies at Reed House made us feel like we were important and cared for during a really hard time.

Thousands of people are in this situation every year on the Sunshine Coast.

In the first 12 months of opening, the Sunshine Coast University Hospital treated 1089 paediatric patients who lived more than 50km from the hospital.

Another 340 mothers that lived outside our region were transported to our state-of-the-art maternity unit to deliver their babies – often pre-term.

While the Hospital’s amazing medical teams care for patients, we want to help the families who travel long distances to support their loved ones.

Wishlist and Ausmar homes want to keep families together during the toughest times.

We're building a home away from home for families with loved-ones receiving life-saving treatment at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

The House The Coast Built will be an affordable accommodation facility for families, within walking distance to the Hospital, to rest and recharge after long and stressful days at the bedside of their child, their siblings, parents or friends.

You can give families a comfortable place to rest while their loved one is undergoing life-saving treatment by purchasing a house-hold item for the home.

Items can be purchased in your name or in honour of a friend for Christmas.

Head to The House The Coast Built to help.