I know, plain, I had to argue to get a correct diagnosis, threaten to sue them when he was on a 'waiting list' for a BMT cubicle, keep him clean due to the filthiness of the place & staff, refuse to sleep in the 'parents' accommodation' which was six bunkbeds in a tiny windowless room with a used tampon in the bin (during a virulent flu epidemic while DS had zero immune system), no fathers' accomm. was available, so we had to stay in a B&B where we could swap at the weekend (my DTDs were 1.5 at the time), he very nearly died while waiting as described above, luckily the twins were suitable as donors (1:4 chance of compatibility), so the chemo & BMT went ahead & we were able to get out of that place after 3 horrendous weeks. It was filthy, disorganised, awful, uncaring & the publicity I see for it is totally hypocritical. The aftercare was crap & I finally lost it when he got Graft vs Host disease which gave him constant blood loss from back passage. The examination for that, under a light general, featured an agency 'nurse' with a black eye who didn't give a sht and was in no fit state to be at work while he writhed around semi-conscious moaning in pain ... then they told us they'd lost his stool sample from that morning. This was just typical of how they were, I really hope they have improved since. Eventually he recovered, and I DH would take him (I could not face going back to that place)for the annual checkup at which they would say: 'Ah here's our* little miracle' (the other two boys diagnosed that year with that type did not make it), which aggravated me despite my general gratitude that he'd survived ... anyway at least he had a normal childhood after recovery until being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 15 ... another auto-immune disorder, so prob linked to the chemo etc. He is a solider, and always was through the treatment, I am grateful for every day of his life ... but it didn't NEED to be as awful as it was. His diabetes treatment at Addenbrookes has been a total contrast, excellent.
Didn't mean to hijack the thread, but what gets me down here is that it doesn't cost ANYTHING to look after someone properly as opposed to NOT, and it's the waste due to uncaring staff which is so impossible to accept at these times.
Thinking of the OP's friend and her son :(