Bodhi, a young Leukemia patient, was tasked with pressing the button to light up the iconic hotel and get this year’s Christmas festivities truly underway.
Every year The Brighton Grand get the festive feeling going with their Christmas light switch on event. Along with their big Christmas tree and choir singers in the main foyer, they also have one special person to press the button to turn on the lights.
This year five-year-old Bodhi was chosen as the VIP to do the honours. When he was three, he was diagnosed with Leukemia and began treatment at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital.
Understandably this has had an enormous impact on Bodhi, and his mum Hannah’s lives, from having to be careful to avoid infections to missing time at school.
But during his treatment, Bodhi and Hannah have received help from Rockinghorse Children’s Charity. They have both spent lots of time in hospital since Bodhi was diagnosed and have been able to use a range of support including toys to play with, activities to help avoid being bored and electric cars to drive in to help have some fun!
Bodhi still has another year of treatment ahead of him, hopefully finishing in January 2025, but we thought it would be nice, after a difficult few years, if Bodhi and Hannah were able to come along to turn the lights on and enjoy some delicious tea and cake in the hotel, kindly donated by The Grand.
So, after some mulled wine and singing from a local children’s choir from Westdene Primary School inside the beautifully decorated hotel foyer, the crowd gathered outside the hotel for the countdown and then the whole front of the beautiful building was lit up, following the all-important button being pressed by Bodhi.
Bodhi was a little bit nervous but really excited to be able to get the festive season kicked off. And Hannah added, “We didn’t even think we would make it out the hospital two years ago, our tree went up late on Christmas eve and we didn’t make it out of our pyjamas. This year we can’t wait to make special memories outside the four walls of a hospital.”
After the switch on, Hannah, Bodhi and Granny Melanie were treated to some delicious tea and cakes in the terrace of the hotel before heading home.
All in all, it was a fantastic evening and a great way to kick off this year’s festive celebrations – thanks so much to The Grand for making such a special evening for Hannah and Bodhi.
