Fletcher’s Fund, is a small charity founded in memory of a little boy, Fletcher Fisher, from Carlisle.
Fletcher was, in every way, a typical toddler. He loved to play and have fun, cause chaos, run about and make noise. He also had cancer. After being diagnosed with a very rare, unspecified form of cancer aged 9 months, he fought hard and bravely, beating it twice.
Tragically, however, the cancer returned a third time, and he passed away in March 2017, aged 23 months old, one month and one day before his second birthday. He was a much loved little boy, and had an infectious personality that everyone fell in love with.
His parents, friends and family have now set up Fletcher’s Fund as a nationally registered charity. We aim to provide grants to families affected by childhood cancer to enable them to buy play equipment or fund days out with their children.
Fletcher’s Fund mission is is to enable families to make memories together through play and having fun. Since receiving official charitable status from the Charity Commission on 11 May 2017, we have made over 165 grants to families of children with cancer throughout England and Wales – over £16,500 made in charitable donations to these families. We receive applications every week, so those figures grow all the time!
The families have used their grants for days out to zoos, country parks, photography shoots, to buy garden play equipment and even – one young man - to eat in a Michelin Star restaurant! The feedback from the families is wonderful, and they are reaching more and more families as awareness grows of Fletcher’s Fund.
The biggest project to date is Isolation Arts and Crafts Bags. Fletcher spent an awful lot of time in isolation in hospital, and upon founding the charity, his parents knew that they wanted to work with the Paediatric Oncology Wards to help support the provision of the play teams, who were vital to care Fletcher received.
Leanne, Fletcher’s mum, met with the play team on ward 31, Leeds Children Hospital (where Fletcher was looked after) and together they devised the idea of producing Arts and Craft bags to give to children when they are in isolation. Isolated children cannot leave their room and cannot have too many visitors (if any).
The bags are full of the usual Arts and Crafts items, as well as a craft kit and book for the child and a set of headphones, a notebook, and a biro pen for the parents. The bags have a budget of £10 each and are split into 4 ages ranges and are packed with appropriate items, according to the childhood development stages. The idea is to provide Art Therapy to the child to alleviate boredom, and to be used a distraction tool whilst undergoing treatment.
The project was launched on Wards 31 (Paediatric Oncology ward) and ward 33 (Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Unit) in Leeds Children Hospital in September 2017 and then launched into Ward 4 (Paediatric Oncology ward) and Ward 3 (Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Unit) in Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle in January 2018 and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Ward 84 in January 2019. To date they have donated 1025 bags to the three units,
The hope is to expand this project into other Paediatric Oncology Units until they are working in all 18 units in England, Wales and Scotland.
We recently expanded the bag project to create Sensory and Heuristic Bags for small babies receiving stem and bone marrow transplants. This is currently a bespoke project for Leeds whilst they (and us!) trial it to see if it is beneficial. The bags themselves are made from oilcloth as they had to be wipeable, and the contents are all either able to be cleaned thoroughly, or used once and thrown away. This is due to the very high levels of infection control that we have to stick to, due to the patients being so young, and having no immune system at all. The contents are all sensory and heuristic in their nature. (Heuristic items involves the children / babies exploring a variety of natural and household items independently). We currently have 5 bags being trialled in Leeds Children Hospital, Ward 32, with the idea being that they will keep the bags and what contents they can and we will replenish the other contents as needed. If it is successful, we will look to role it out to other units. Each bag cost £15.
We then developed Teenager Bags – Boredom Buster Bags. These are for children and young people from 13-18 years of age, and promote both art therapy and self care. Unlike the other bag projects, these are gendered as we had to be aware of the self care needs of the young men and women receiving them. We initially donated 50 bags to Leeds Children’s Hospital, Ward 33 and each bag costs £20.
We then expanded the Boredom Buster Bags into Great North Children’s Hospital, Newcastle in July with the incredible generosity of our Give a Day Heroes at Trinity School. To date we have donated 150 Boredom Buster bags.
In total, we have donated 1090 bags through the three projects – totalling £12,400.
Fletcher’s Fund has also made various other charitable donations on a one off basis. In October 2018, we donated 190 ‘Ward brochures’ to ward 31, Leeds General Infirmary. These brochures have been developed in partnership with over 100 parents of children receiving treatment in Leeds, and are full of practical hints and tips on how the ward works, and what life is like with a child with cancer. The brochures are designed to be given to parents upon their child’s diagnosis. The feedback is wonderful, from both staff and patients.
Fletcher’s Fund is a small charity – run by 5 dedicated trustees and a small team of hardworking volunteers – all making up Team Fletcher. We have small overheads, and are committed to keeping overheads as low as possible and to be as transparent as possible. We are dedicated to spending every penny wisely and to giving each and every family they help they personal touch. Every family we help matters to Fletcher’s Fund, and we often go on to develop a long lasting relationship with the family. We consistently go above and beyond to help and assist the families as much as possible.
We are just about to move into premises as we have outgrown the family home and are on a mission to expand the bag project, and everything else we do! Moving into offices will allow us to do this – although it means we’re going to need volunteers to help run the office! Get in touch if you think you could help with admin!
We have also just obtained registration with the Scottish Charity regulator, meaning that we are now registered as a charity in Scotland as well as England and Wales. Our Scottish charity number is SC049970.
In amongst all of that, achieved in 2 years and 8 months, we have just welcomed another little boy into our bonkers family. Archer is a baby brother to Fletcher and Cooper, and made his appearance on 9th September 2019. He is very new, and Leanne took a very short, but well earned maternity leave break. Now she is back to work, raring to go and has some huge plans and ambitions for the future of the Fund as we head into 2020 and beyond!
More information can be found at www.fletchersfund.org.uk, www.facebook.com/teamfletcherf or twitter: @fletchersfund.
