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 click here.
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."