This week, 52 Lives headed to Maldon School in Essex to visit the wonderful year 5 pupils. 

Our Director of Kindness, Greig was welcomed with big smiles from Mrs Dunn and her class. The morning was a tremendous success. The class were very vocal during the interactive presentation and really made it a thought provoking and entertaining session. After hearing examples of the some of the people 52 Lives has helped by raising money, the children were asked "How much does kindness cost?" to which every single child shouted "Nothing". Amazing!

After discussing the social and health benefits of kindness, the children were then introduced to this week's life -  Riley is a 4 year old boy from Durham, who has undergone a staggering 26 operations in his short life. He has spina bifida and hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain). He also suffered from a brain tumour last year, which caused fluid in his spine to build up. It has left him unable to talk, eat or control his bowel or bladder, meaning he has to be catheterised every few hours. His mum, Lesley-ann, is his full-time carer. Riley’s daily life is incredibly difficult, painful and packed full of hospital and therapy appointments. A lot of the things he has to deal with, such as sleeping with a special mask, he finds very scary. It’s hard for a child so young to understand why all of this is happening to him.

This little boy has had a lot to deal with in his life. He's been through more in his 4 years than most of us will in a lifetime. Upon hearing Riley's incredible and heartbreaking story, the children at Maldon School could not wait to do something kind for him and let him know that he is in their hearts. 

The children made cards, posters, games for him to play and some children even wrote and performed their own play to cheer Riley up (catch the Oscar winning performance in the video below). In the photograph that Greig shared, Riley was dressed as Buzz lightyear so many of the cards were designed with pictures of the mighty Riley Lightyear! Love it!

A wonderful day with incredibly kind children helping an extremely brave and inspirational child. The world is indeed filled with love and kindness. 

xx