Prince Harry paid a visit to seriously ill children at Leeds Children’s Hospital yesterday.
The jovial young royal enjoyed chatting and joking with the youngsters and their parents as part of a visit organised by his charity WellChild. The charity offers support to the families and caretakers of sick children and Harry has been working with them since 2007.
While on his visit he met a little girl named Audrey Frantzich who suffers from a rare genetic condition Mosiac Trisomy 9.
Due to the severity of her condition, Audrey is wheel-chair bound and tube-fed.
Video: #PrinceHarry raises spirits at Leeds Children's Hospital https://t.co/2YaU4pUfSg pic.twitter.com/8XuLLIB2H9
— Belfast Telegraph (@BelTel) July 7, 2017
Audrey’s mum Louise told The Telegraph: "You can tell she's enjoyed it. She loves it when there are people around and all the cameras and everything."
When asked by Louise how he found Leeds, Harry replied: "Leeds is fantastic,” while smiling broadly at the camera.
While chatting with another family, Harry managed to convince a shy little girl to come out and talk to him. As Harry spoke to the family of a patient named Mareyah Joseph-Webster, he gently persuaded her sister, Tayah-Mai Webster to chat to him.
Tayah-Mai had been hiding behind her mum Sonya Joseph but with some gentle encouragement from Harry, she came out and played ball with him.
Meanwhile, mum Sonya told the Prince how she is currently learning ventilator skills to enable Mareyah, who suffers from Edwards Syndrome, to join her five other siblings at home in Meanwood, Leeds.
Prince Harry met some of the families WellChild Nurse Helen supports. WellChild Nurses, where possible, help get children home from hospital pic.twitter.com/nyHmFVD6B3
— WellChild (@WellChild) July 7, 2017
He also chatted to Kerryanne Rhodes and Andrew Maloy, from Dewsbury, about their baby son Lewis, who was born in February and has Beckwidths-Wierdemann syndrome.
His parents explained how they had to learn tracheostomy skills and other life support techniques to allow them to take Lewis home.
Before leaving the hospital, Harry paid a visit to kids in the staff nursery.
Earlier that day the philanthropic prince had another important visit to carry out when he stopped by the home of young Oliver Rooney.
Oliver, five, suffers from a rare chromosome disorder that causes him to have profound and complex special needs.
Harry and volunteers from Helping Hands, which is supported by Harry’s charity WellChild worked together to redesign Oliver’s backyard to make it into a safer and more enjoyable place for the whole family.
Up until now, Oliver’s mum explained that the backyard had not been safe for Oliver to play in.
He also spent some time getting to know Oliver and his four brothers, Samuel, 9, Joseph, 8, Thomas, 6, and Oliver's twin, Jak.
