Covid-19: Transplant boy's parents' joy as hospital's rules eased

Connor Gardner and Rachel Nicholson can now spend an hour each day together with their son

The parents of a one-year-old boy who had a bone marrow transplant said they were "overjoyed" after a hospital eased a rule barring them from being at his bedside at the same time.

Max Gardner, who has a blood disorder, had the operation at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary on 13 January.

Only one parent had been able to visit him at a time due to Covid rules.

However, Connor Gardner and Rachel Nicholson can now be with their son together for an hour a day.

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said decisions on visiting were made on a "case by case basis".

Max has aplastic anaemia, a serious condition in which the bone marrow and stem cells do not produce enough blood cells.

'Quality time'

Mr Gardner, 29, a HGV driver from Hebburn, South Tyneside, is taking time off work to minimise the risk of infecting his son while his immune system recovers after the transplant.

"We are delighted the rule has been lifted and we can spend quality time together with Max," he said.

"It makes life easier, bathing and changing him is a two-man job.

"We also take it in turns spending the night here with him. He's doing well and his immune system is getting stronger, but it's early days and we mustn't get ahead of ourselves."

The family was able to be in the same room on Tuesday for the first time in weeks

The hospital trust said: "We safely reintroduced visiting across inpatient wards in August last year.

"We have kept our restrictions to a minimum for as long as possible but following the announcement of a national lockdown and increasing cases of the new variant of Covid-19, we made the very difficult decision to implement stricter restrictions to essential visiting only."

Mr Gardner added: "The care and compassion ourselves and Max have received from everyone in hospital has been nothing short of superb, not just from the consultants and doctors, but the nurses and cleaners.

"Everyone has played their part in getting Max to where he's at today and we are forever in debt to them."