What we do

We aim to relieve the needs of children and young adults suffering from life limiting conditions or terminal illness, and their families who come under the care of Southampton Children’s Hospital, Teenage and Young Adult cancer ward, and Naomi House Children’s hospice. 

The ways in which we provide help are:

Memory Making – Our primary objective is to fund an activity such as a day out or overnight stay, for a family to spend time together and make a magical memory.  

Financial Grants – We provide financial support to families experiencing financial hardship as a result of the illness – this will usually take the form of a monetary grant.

Targeted Help – Sometimes more targeted help is appropriate – such as replacing an essential appliance like a washing machine if it breaks down, or the purchase of a tumble dryer necessary to prevent illness through drying washing throughout the home.

In the last year, we have also helped make the lives of children and young adults spending long periods of time in hospital more bearable by providing specific items for their needs.  Many children have additional needs such as Autism, ADHD or sensory processing issues and we have supplied the families with sensory toys, a sensory tent for when it all gets too much, and some lego sets to keep a patient occupied.

Sibling Support – one of activities about which we are passionate is helping the siblings of sick children/young adults as they are often apart from their families for a long time, staying with family and friends whilst the parents are with the sick child/young adult.  We help them in the following ways:

• Amazon vouchers for a small treat
• Funding an activity for the sibling and parents such as a cinema trip, bowling etc, where the focus is on the sibling
•  A bundle of goodies, tailored to the sibling’s interests – e.g one such package included a Liverpool F.C. hoodie, ball, football night light etc

We know from feedback that this is a very welcome initiative for the parents, who often feel guilty that they are unable to put their other children first.

Voucher support – Having established a working relationship with the local Young Lives vs Cancer (YLvsC) hospital team in 2022, we provide the following vouchers for the team to distribute to families for the purchase of food/drink/magazines etc in the hospital outlets:

• Marks and Spencer
• Costa Coffee
• Amazon (for patients or siblings)

Supply of Books  – We purchase and supply to the YLvsC team some specific titles of books aimed at helping members of a family understand what is happening when someone is seriously ill.