Rainbow Trust Children's Charity provides practical and emotional support to families who have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness. Supporting 1,000 families each year, Rainbow Trust is active in the South East, London, Essex, Wiltshire, the North East, the North West and Manchester. 

However, at any one time 10,000 families in England have a child diagnosed with a life threatening or terminal illness. Rainbow Trust is fundraising to support more families.

Two respite houses in Surrey and Northumberland provide a break for the whole family, allowing them to spend precious time together as a family. Rainbow Trust's Family Support Workers join the family in their own home and are there to provide whatever practical support is needed. They may attend hospital appointments with parents, sit by the bedside of the sick child to give parents a break and take worried siblings out for the day. Rainbow Trust supports families for as long as they need us - from diagnosis, through the illness and beyond.

I'm funding the race myself, all sponsorship, individual and corporate, will go to the Rainbow Trust.
You can be assured that any donation you make to Rainbow Trust will be spent where it is most needed to help families who have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness, however please find below some examples of how your donation could help:

• £20 allows a Family Support Worker to sit with a sick child in hospital for an hour
• £30 keeps one of our respite houses open for an hour
• £76 pays for a sick child to have a magical 24 hour stay at one of our houses
• £100 runs one of our swimming pools for a week
• £150 enables a Family Support Worker to take a worried sibling on a day trip
• £500 keeps our 24 hour telephone helpline running for a month
• £1,424 means a whole family can stay at one of our houses for four days
• £1,500 is the average cost to support a family
• £5,000 keeps one of our respite homes open for a week
• £7,500 buys all families' meals at our respite homes for a year
• £10,000 pays for respite care for 10 families
• £21,667 keeps one of our respite homes open for a month
• £32,000 pays a Family Support Worker's salary and all other costs for a whole year
• £50,000 provides a team of Support Workers at one of our homes for 3 months
• £280,000 keeps a respite home going for a whole year - that's 200 family stays

To donate now
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Rainbow Trust believes that every family with a dying child deserves loving care and support and where possible, it offers special help to families with a child suffering from a life threatening or terminal illness. Each year Rainbow Trust cares for over a thousand families, for whom our service is free of charge, but it costs over £3 million each year to continue providing this vital service.




For one family, being put in touch with Rainbow Trust was one of the best things that had happened.  Mary and Derek Harrison were referred to Rainbow Trust by doctors treating their son, Tom. Tom was diagnosed with severe heart defects and a rare medical syndrome which meant his outlook was very poor. "My son was six months old when the hospital put me in touch," explained Mary. "I told them things were getting too much for me and Rainbow came in and looked after the whole family.




They have been such a support to us. "The family support worker would come with me when I had to leave the house or if my other son needed support, they would take him to school when things were bad, or take me to hospital and just hold my hand. "Rainbow has helped me so much, I will be eternally grateful." When a child dies or in some cases fully recovers, it is not the end of the story as far as Rainbow Trust is concerned. It stays with the family for as long as it is needed and also encourages families to take a break at the charity's respite homes where up to three families can be accommodated. 

These respite homes are happy places where families can spend quality time together in a relaxing and supportive environment.   For Mary Harrison, her family's visit was a blissful break, "We got there and then Rainbow took over. They cooked the meals, they did our washing, it was just a total break. It was the only holiday we ever had with our son, Tom, before he died."