Back in 2021 Seven year old Ethan from Brownhills, Walsall was treated for Burkitt’s Leukaemia at Birmingham Children's Hospital. After being discharged Ethan who is now almost 3 years in remission, and his parents, decided they wanted to fundraise to
give something back to the place that had become their second home during treatment.
Knowing first hand how hard it is for the children and their families spending weeks away from home, they knew they had to do something to benefit the children and their families directly.
Whilst on the ward they learnt about the Bravery Box of toys and activities which was used, and funded by the nurses, to help children deal with the distress and often discomfort they encountered during their treatment. Children were allowed to pick something from the box that they could take to help them through procedures and treatments, or as a treat afterwards. For a lot of children this helped them cope with the challenges they faced.
So with this in mind they decided to fundraise allowing them to do an annual toy run for the hospital and help keep the Bravery Box replenished.
During Ethan's treatment his parents, Laura and Carl, had set up a Facebook group called Ethan's Journey to Recovery. The group was set up initially set up as a place to reach out to the Trucking Community asking them to send truck photos for Ethan to help cheer him up during his treatment. They were overwhelmed with the response they had and over time the group has grown with people all over the world showing their support for Ethan and supporting this fundraising efforts.
They hold annual Truck Shows, this year being their 3rd, as well as running pop up stalls selling mugs, keyrings and more. This year they were also excited to create a 2025 calender to help boost fundraising efforts and it has been very popular. Money raised this year was more than double what they raised last year, and in the last 3 years they have raised over £12,500 for wards 18 & 19, a fantastic achievement.
Last weekend was toy run time, a small team went along to Smyths Toys in Tamworth who kindly offered to host the shopping spree. After just an hour they managed to buy just short of £5000 worth of toys, books and activities to donate. Alongside this they also bought £500 worth of tubie cheek stickers to be used on the ward as they work better than the standard NHS stickers and £500 of Nesquick milkshake powders
to help when issuing medication to the children. Previously the milkshake powder had been donated direct from the company but unfortunately funding was recently withdrawn.
The team then went on to deliver the toys to the ward and got to meet some of the families and children currently undergoing treatment. Michelle Greenwood,who is a Driver for David A Guatella International, attended this years truck show and helped with the toy run. She said 'It was an amazing but emotional day and was honoured to be asked to help. Ethan is an absolute inspiration.'
The team will also be refurbishing the community area on the ward in a few weeks and are currently working towards raising money for next years toy run. Plans for 2025 include another calendar and Ethan's Dad Carl and fellow driver Matt Herman will be cycling from John O'Groats to Lands End to raise even more money.
#charity #CharityTuesday #Fundraising #EthansJourneyToRecovery #EthansJourney #ChildhoodCancer #Charitycalender #Charitytruckshow #truckshows #truckshowseason #donate #fundraise #BirminghamChildrensHospital #Trucks #Truckspotting #Brownhills #WestMidlands #Cannock #Truckstops
Comments