52 Lives

#364 Thea

Request: Donations / Gifts from a wishlist / Kind messages

This week, we’d like to help a 12 year old girl from Essex called Thea.

Thea is autistic and was diagnosed with bone cancer when she was 10. She had to undergo major limb surgery and one of her legs is now much smaller than the other. She lives in constant pain and her parents find it really hard to get her to do her physio.

The cancer, the surgery and the intense treatment she has been through (and is still going through) would have been difficult for any child to deal with, but for Thea it was even more challenging and caused her a huge amount of distress. She has severe anxiety and is hearing voices so has been referred to child mental health services.

Thea attends a mainstream school, but she is quite slow to complete tasks and cries most days. Every day she begs her mum to let her stay home, which is upsetting for the whole family.

She lives with her mum and dad and three brothers (one also has an autism diagnosis). After Thea's cancer diagnosis, her dad had to leave his job to help care for the children. They fell into debt shortly after and have been struggling ever since.

We'd like to help.

They have just moved into a wheelchair accessible property, but is it in desperate need of decoration and some more furniture. They would also love to be able to visit the local pool to help Thea regain some strength in her leg, but it's too expensive for them to do regularly. We'd like to buy them a membership so they can go as often as they like. We'd also love to provide some Christmas presents for all the children to take a bit of financial stress away from their parents. 

What We Need

1. Donations: We'll use your donations to help buy some of the things they need and to pay for a membership to their local pool. You can donate online or by text on the details below.

2. Gifts from a wishlist: To buy a gift from the Amazon wishlist, click below and choose a gift. It will be sent directly to Thea and her family (just click 'this is a gift' and select the 'gift registry address' at checkout).

3. Kind messages: To send a kind message to this family, please write it in the form below and we'll pass it along (your contact details won't be shared) or you can post it to: 52 Lives (364), PO Box 3154, Reading, RG1 9AT.

BUY A GIFT
DONATE ONLINE

What We Did

Thanks to all of you, Thea and her mum now have a one-year membership to their local gym and swimming pool! It will make such a huge difference and will mean Thea can go swimming whenever she wants, helping her to gain some strength in her leg. We also managed to buy a bed and some other things they needed for the home, Christmas presents for Thea and her siblings, as well as clothes and grocery vouchers. The things you gave them have made their lives so much easier – but Thea’s mum said the messages you sent also meant the world.

Thank you all so much for doing this for them.