Unmissable Movie Moments: Baxter’s Story
Thirteen-year-old Baxter is a huge film fan. From soundtracks to movie trivia, he is a font of knowledge on all-things cinema. He also manages complex health issues which often stop him from visiting his local high street cinema.
Living with spina bifida and hydrocephalus has left him paralysed from the chest down, amongst many other debilitating symptoms. Recently, Baxter was admitted to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow resulting in an 11-week stay, and the need for pioneering shunt surgery.
During this difficult time, MediCinema offered Baxter a vital connection to his passion and to the outside world. This is his story, told by mum, Ailsa.
“Baxter was a miracle baby, never predicted to survive his early years, thanks to the host of physical and neurological issues that are now his everyday life. We are regular visitors to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, where he’s had multiple emergency ‘blue-light’ admissions, and surgeries, in the last 3 years. Despite the difficulty of our family and friends living so far away, we do feel very comfortable here in the hospital. Throughout everything, the true miracle of Baxter, is that he has never complained”.
Baxter remembers checking out the MediCinema before his first visit to make sure it met with his specific accessibility, sensory and processing needs. Since then, he has seen upwards of 25 films both in his wheelchair and hospital bed.
MediCinema has opened up a whole world to Baxter, that he couldn’t really access before, and he’s loving it. For a couple of hours, we can escape and not think about the hard stuff.
“[MediCinema gives us]… something to look forward to, and time to just do something normal, in safe, predictable and accommodating environment. And they have nurses present to make sure everyone is fine. AND… you can watch films in your bed, and it’s completely free! Legit the best cinema in the world”.
“What I love about it is that you don’t have to do any work, it’s all set up, and they even collect you before the film starts. They do this reassuring talk before the movie starts, and you get the feeling that you are part of a community, not just a bunch of individuals”.
The nurses do their medical checks in advance, and are on hand throughout the film, which allows both Baxter and I to chill, despite his condition. When we are in the MediCinema, I think, ‘you’ve got us’.
Despite his deep passion for film, music and musical theatre, Baxter finds it difficult to visit a regular cinema.
“All the reasons Baxter and I can’t easily or successfully go to the cinema at home, are the reasons why we can go to the MediCinema. The regular cinema is too loud, the screen too bright, the space too busy, and he gets a sore neck if the screen is too big, or the wheelchair seats are not positioned in the centre of the space. He needs to take breaks and has rarely made it through a full movie, under these testing conditions. But at MediCinema, accessibility is the gold standard, that Baxter can’t find anywhere else”.
A Vital Connection to the Outside World
The films Baxter sees provide him with vital connections to the outside world, and to other people. Whether that’s playing his favourite film soundtrack, “Wicked”, in theatre before operations to de-stress, or whiling away the hours, searching for ‘extra’ behind the scenes content online, he’s inspired through film, to interact with the wider world MediCinema has given Baxter a way of escaping his circumstances, through his passion, which would have been otherwise difficult.
As mum and main carer, Ailsa has also benefitted from some much-needed respite too, by attending adult patient screenings on her own, knowing that the nurses keep an eye on Baxter and can easily grab her if anything changes as the MediCinema is so close by.
Normally I spend the whole of my life, with one eye open. But here, I can watch a film, stress free and guilt free, without looking at my phone constantly. I can escape for a while for some much-needed downtime, it’s so much more than a movie.
