An Edinburgh based charity that supports the Royal Hospital for Sick Children is funding a heart-warming initiative to provide bereaved families with special memory boxes for their little loved ones.

The Sick Kids Friends Foundation provides the necessary support which enables families to receive the touching memory boxes as a source of comfort during an extremely difficult time in their lives.

The boxes are made up of a selection of keepsake items including memory books to hold precious hand and foot prints, paintings and written reflections of the time the family had with their child, a butterfly tea light candle, a special box for a lock of hair and little teddy bears that can be given to parents and siblings.

Katrina Marshall, Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, said that this initiative is to help families whose child is approaching end of life and families who have been bereaved.

Katrina said: “The memory boxes have helped us to support many families during a very emotional time. The boxes enable them to collate memories in a special place that they will be able to look back on in years to come.

“Our aim is to bring families some source of comfort in what must be the most difficult of time.  After receiving thank you cards and verbal feedback  from families, it’s overwhelming to see the positive impact they are having”.

“We’re so thankful that the Sick Kids Friends Foundation continues fund these memory boxes for families at what has to be one of the most difficult and traumatic of times.”

The boxes have recently been redesigned to ensure they are of the best quality for each and every family and the keepsakes items in them provide comfort to families.

Roslyn Neely, CEO of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, said: “This is a really touching initiative and we’re very pleased to provide this valuable support to families. We can’t even begin to imagine what these families are going through and want to ensure that we can continue to help them in any way possible.

“We exist to ensure children and young people’s lives are less interrupted by illness and that they have a more positive hospital experience. We provide enhanced facilities and cutting edge equipment and it is the generosity of those who get involved with initiatives like this one which allows us to continue to do this.”