Good presents for male teen cancer inpatient

[Northbynorthbreast]

Mumsnet, what do you recommend? Friends son with rare and aggressive cancer requiring in house treatments at hospital for some weeks. He loves footie and style and social media … what would you give/send?

Also any advice on what you miss on extended hospital stays really welcome

And also what makes you feel a bit more normal in such a medicalised environment?

My only overnight stays were birth and a fracture so no idea what it’s like really!

There may not be much room for extra stuff. If he's feeling unwell he might not be able to concentrate or eat. Or only want to eat specific things.

Nothing makes you feel normal, being in hospital is shit.

Does he have decent headphones? Power banks? Data for streaming. Subscription to streaming service.
A good dressing gown is often useful in hospital - a light one in the summer - could be football team related. Slippers also. Earplugs also.

Amazon vouchers? When unwell for extended periods I've done a lot of internet shopping.

As a super nice gift you can reach out to footballers and teams who will sometimes sign stuff or visit people. There might also be Foundations that can arrange this sort of thing. Some sports people are amazing for this, I've seen it happen for a few people and it's made them up at a really crap time.

I was in and out of hospital for a month with pre eclampsia. My own pillow made me feel better. Maybe a light blanket of some sort. Things like your own mug or water bottle.

Treats small rabinson fruit concentrates that you squeeze into water. Multi packs of chocolate snack bars.

But apart from that flip flops, eye mask , headphones, ear plugs.

Some cheap phone headphones tissues or a kindle might be nice too

Soft clothing - bamboo socks & underwear? Makes a difference if his skin goes sensitive.

I would ask her or ask her to ask him what he would like. Teenagers are an awkward age so it's easy to get it wrong. Hope he feels better soon.

Thank you. I ordered cordless headphones, good socks and slippers, one of those travel pillows. He has had a lot of lovely outreach from the football clubs.robinsons and vouchers good ideas thanks.

Any thoughts on food parcel delivery?

You could get him vouchers for just eat or deliveroo, that way he can order in what he fancies when he fancies it or save it for when he's home.

I really hope he recovers fully and quickly.

If he's got good WiFi and a tablet or laptop available, could you get him a BT Sports or Sky Sports pass? They don't need a long contract, you can buy a month at a time or 3m etc

Maybe a celebrity video message from Cameo? Choose carefully but some of them send really sweet messages. There might be a footballer on there he likes.

Oh, and if he is into coffee or tea, the thing I really appreciated recently was having a decent travel mug with me and my own teabags so I could have more than a tiny cup of decent tea. Was especially valuable given they are very short staffed so making cups of tea not high up their agenda.

Every teenage boy I know is delighted with fifa points if he has a games console in there!

Brilliant ideas thank you!