The Grace Crocker Family Support Foundation

WELCOME

The Grace Crocker Family Support Foundation was set up in January 2011, in memory of Grace Crocker, who grew her angel wings aged 11 weeks. Grace was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (A congenital heart disorder in which the left side of the heart, particularly the left ventricle, is underdeveloped. The first part of the aorta may also be abnormal. Affected babies usually develop severe heart failure within the first few days of life), and had open-heart surgery when she was just 5 days old. Her family lived in Jersey, and so they had to move to Southampton for three months whilst Grace recovered from her surgery, including her brother and sister as well as her mum and dad.  She met lots of friends and family when she was allowed back home to Jersey, and in the month that she was home, she touched so many people’s lives.

As a result of our own experience, we set up this charity with the support of friends and family, with the aim to help other families from Jersey who need to spend time in the UK whilst their child receives medical treatment in a hospital.

It is worrying enough when your child is sick, without being faced with additional financial worries, and so we would love to help families in some way, by providing them with some financial assistance and emotional support too.

HOW WE HELP FAMILIES

We raise funds in order to provide financial and emotional help to Jersey families when they need us.  Having a sick child can be stressful for families but if they require medical treatment in the UK this adds the additional stress of worrying about finances.  We aim to help with things such as:

• Flights for family members.

• Food and everyday living expenses. Even though you can get discount at most hospital canteens, it is still expensive if you cannot cook your own food all the time.

• Additional travel costs, such as petrol, buses, etc.

• Rent / accommodation in the UK: If families are over with other children, hospital accommodation is not always feasible and so they have to rent properties near the hospital instead. Hospital accommodation is also not very cheap.

• Mortgage / rent on Jersey properties whilst they are away.

The Grace Crocker Family Support Foundation is changing its focus given the impact Covid-19 is having on the world right now.

Instead of focusing our efforts on raising £100k this year we will be dedicating our time and energy into supporting families with sick children here in Jersey. It’s worrying enough to have a sick child that is vulnerable due to this terrible virus and sadly some families will have the added stress of not earning over this period. We believe there will be certain scenarios where sick children can’t travel due to the flight disruptions caused by Covid-19 virus and the charity could potentially help with medical equipment.

We will be working very closely with Family First over this difficult period to ensure that those families who really need our help get it. Please remember you are not alone, we are all in this together. We are here if you need help, support or just some advice during this challenging time.