Hearts of Gold Children Hospice Founder, Laja Adedoyin Bags National Award (OON)

In recognition of her selfless service to humanity, a woman with rare milk of human kindness; the proprietress of Hearts of Gold Children Hospice, Surulere, Lagos, Mrs. Laja Adedoyin, was on Sunday May 28, 2023, conferred with a national award; Officer of The Order of The Niger (OON) by out-gone president Muhammadu Buhari.

The award was in recognition of Adedoyin’s contributions to the nation through the hospice, which caters for children with disabilities and deformities, especially those that are abandoned by their parents.

Hearts of Gold Children Hospice has since been recognised worldwide as a centre for care for special children with Mrs. Laja Adedoyin sitting as the Head of the centre.

After 25 fulfilling years of operating facilities that took care of people with various types of disabilities in the United Kingdom, Mrs. Laja Adedoyin returned to Lagos, Nigeria in 2003 and established the first hospice in Nigeria – Hearts of Gold, a home for the care and management of children with mental and extreme physical disabilities, which also offers home care services to children with disabilities living at home.

The hospice, Hearts of Gold, which is located on Plot 75, Alhaji Masha Road, Onilegogoro, Surulere, Lagos, accommodates several children suffering from different ailments – hydrocephalus, spinal bifida cerebral palsy, insomnia. Other children are blind, paralysed or HIV positive.

In December 2014, Laja Adedoyin’s Hearts of Gold Children Hospice celebrated 10 years of impacting the lives of children at Shell Hall of the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, commanding the presence of the former Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, Mr. Aderemi Aderogba, wives of the Governors of Lagos and Kwara States.

No doubt, Laja Adedoyin is passionate about what she does. In her words : “I look forward to the day I’ll take my last breath, when I will join the children who have gone before me and I would like to look back on my life and see my children who will always be part of my history, knowing that I did all I could to positively impact their lives and to be able to say goodbye with a smile before I take my last breath.”