For the past two years Maddison and her family have been coming to the Queensland Children’s Hospital for various chemo treatments, radiation therapies and surgeries.

Maddison has always been bubbly and outgoing and her mum, Vanessa, is so proud of how her daughter has carried herself. When Maddison and Vanessa need time away from the clinical environment, they go to the family resource centre.

“As you can imagine, we spend a lot of time between different appointments, so there are times when we both just need a break.

“Because of where a lot of our appointments are located, we’re always close by to the Family Resource Centre, which is a great place to sit down, away from all of the hustle and bustle.

“When Maddison had surgery, which lasted for about seven hours, my husband and I spent the entire time in the resource centre.

“It was the perfect environment for us to be – the wards can feel quite cold, and it was really helpful being able to distance ourselves from that clinical feeling.

“Even when I’ve had Maddison with me, while we’ve been waiting between meetings, there are great resources in there for kids and for the adults.

“There are also a lot of magazines and books, Maddison is a little bookworm, so it’s nice when we can both take time to sit together in a quiet space and read.

“Aside from the great resources, the volunteers who run the centre were so lovely to us and helped pass the time.

“It was great having other people to talk to, whether you’re after a distraction or need their help finding some information. It really made a difference to our time at the hospital.

“I’ve been in the centre when other families have come in, and they’ve been flown straight to the hospital – the volunteers helped them with toiletries and pointed them in the right direction to find whatever else they needed.

“For parents especially, because the kids can play in the Kidzone, the resource centre provided me with a calm place to re-centre.”