Photo: Parents Toni and Chris with their little daughter, Hadley, who has brain damage and cerebral palsy, and is supported by Family Fund with the specialist items she needs most, to enhance her life. Photo credit: Family Fund.
Family Fund is here to offer disabled children financial support for the specialist items they need most, so that they can live and feel as well as possible through hardship."
Family Fund were overwhelmed to receive a phenomenal £65,802 from Radio 4 listeners who gave so generously to our appeal on behalf of disabled children living through hardship in April.
Our appeal was presented by the DJ and broadcaster, Jo Whiley, who generously spoke of her own experiences growing up with a younger sister with a rare genetic syndrome who needs round the clock care, and the challenges this presented for her family.
Our appeal told how there are one million disabled children in the UK and that a third of them are living in poverty. This means that on top of having complex health and care needs, thousands and thousands of children are going without essential items or equipment they need to live the best possible life they can.
Family Fund works to address this inequality and bring support, play, learning and opportunity to vulnerable children’s lives. We support families who have a low income and a severely disabled child, so that they can access the items that will make the biggest different to their life, in line with their specific condition and needs.
The donations from Radio 4 listeners will enable us to support more families who greatly need our help. Families like Hadley’s, whose story we shared in our appeal. Her parents, Toni and Chris, care round the clock for their disabled daughter, who was left with brain damage after contracting Meningitis as a baby. Faced with not just the trauma and shock of her sudden critical illness, they were also struck by the unexpected cost of visiting and living in a hospital hundreds of miles from their home, for many, many weeks. Family Fund supported them through this terrible time. As Hadley has grown, she suffers with painful muscles due to her condition. We were also able to grant her a small heated pool, which provides hours of sensory stimulation, relaxation and relief. It also creates a rare opportunity for Hadley and her older sister to splash and play, whilst she is supported in the water.
Family Fund simply cannot offer this kind of support to those in such great need, without our donors. For enabling us to offer hope and opportunity to families in hardship raising disabled children, the entire charity extends our heartfelt and sincere thanks to the listeners and to Radio 4.
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