Hammers stars spread festive cheer at Newham Hospital
Michail Antonio, Arthur Masuaku, Diafra Sakho, Toni Martinez and Sam Byram visited the children’s Rainbow Centre at Newham University Hospital to meet youngsters and hand over claret and blue gifts.
It continues the Club’s yearly tradition of visiting the hospital just before Christmas begins and the visit, once again, brought smiles to faces of the young children currently under the care of doctors and nurses.
2017 Hammer of the Year Michail Antonio said he and the players were only too pleased to pay a visit to those having to spend time in hospital over Christmas.
“It's very important for us to spread some Christmas cheer,” he said. "Being in hospital over Christmas is not nice, so it's important that we can bring a smile or a bit of laughter to their faces.
“I'm a father myself and with my first son he was in hospital over Christmas because he was born six weeks early, so I know how the parents are feeling over this time.
“Hopefully some of these kids can get out of hospital before Christmas, but for the ones that don't, hopefully the gifts we've brought along can help them through their tough time.”
The players handed gift bags full of Hammers gifts to the children in the Rainbow Centre, before posing with doctors, nurses and other staff members for photographs and presenting them with some festive chocolates.
Zainab Yussuf, Nurse in Charge at Newham University Hospital, added: "We were so pleased to host West Ham United - it's such a lovely treat for our patients and gives them a chance to forget about their treatment and being in hospital for a short while.
“A big thank you to the players for coming and for the chocolates for all our staff too. We're looking forward to having them next year already.”
Zosia Czapska, community fundraiser at Barts Charity, commented: “Thank you to the players for helping to spread a little cheer to the young patients in hospital, and to everyone at the club for their help in making the visit happen - they were a pleasure to work with and the children really enjoyed it.”