Teenager to take to catwalk in aid of appeal for new children's unit at Raigmore Hospital
A TEENAGER who spent much of her childhood in hospital is to take to the catwalk in aid of the appeal for a new children's unit in Inverness.
Dawn Cowie has undergone frequent treatment and operations for kidney problems but is now preparing for her next big challenge — making her debut on the catwalk as a thank you for the care and help she has received.
The 17-year-old will be among the models at tomorrow’s Cirque Du Fashion Show in the Eastgate Shopping Centre in Inverness to raise money to develop a new children’s unit at Raigmore Hospital.
"I am a bit nervous," Miss Cowie admitted. "But it is such an important cause."
The £2 million Highland Children’s Unit Appeal, launched by the ARCHIE Foundation in conjunction with The Inverness Courier, has just another £200,000 to go before reaching its target.
Miss Cowie, who has already raised thousands of pounds for the charity, has witnessed first-hand the difference it can make, having spent many hours in both the children’s ward at Raigmore and the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.
"When I was born, I had a kidney which had not developed and so it was removed when I was nine months old," the Golspie High School pupil explained.
But she suffered recurring infections to the remaining kidney and last year underwent two operations to stop them, which meant a three-week stay in Aberdeen.
"I had a lot of help from a pain nurse in Aberdeen which is funded by ARCHIE," she said. "After I had the operation, she came in every day to the high dependency unit and the surgical ward. She monitored the morphine and suggested other ways of dealing with the pain.
"I feel it is very important to try and get a pain nurse for Inverness."
Miss Cowie is also acutely aware of the differences in the children’s facilities at Aberdeen and Inverness. "I know they are doing a refurbishment in Aberdeen but it is newer and brighter than Inverness which has a dark and dull feel," she said.
"The ward at Raigmore has a hospital feel, which I imagine is much scarier for young ones."
Despite the disruption caused by her condition during her childhood, Miss Cowie was determined to carry on with activities she enjoyed.
"I didn’t do as much as my friends but I was quite competitive and was a Highland dancer," she said. "I was competing at a high level but had to give it up because I became so unwell."
Earlier this year, she raised £10,000 for the ARCHIE Foundation by organising an auction and race night in Helmsdale, where she lives with her parents.
Miss Cowie — who regularly visits Inverness to see her boyfriend, Caley Thistle player Alisdair Sutherland — has also worked as a volunteer in the ARCHIE Foundation’s Highland office and helped at last year’s Santa’s grotto in the Eastgate, which raised money for the appeal.
The creation of the new children’s unit involves the redevelopment and extension of Raigmore Hospital’s former ward 11, previously used for respiratory patients. Work has already started and the new facility is due to open in March.
