Mary Oscar Stronger Together

UPDATED OCTOBER 2024

We have four beautiful children: George (12), Mary (10), Oscar (8), and Arthur (20 months).

Our journey to diagnosis has been long. Mary had developmental delays and was diagnosed with ASD, at the severe end of the spectrum, in November 2018. Oscar also had developmental problems, starting at 2 months old, when he was unable to keep feed down. His issues continued to develop to the point where he has an unsafe swallow, is non-verbal, and has severe mobility limitations.

At the end of 2020, both Oscar and Mary were diagnosed with Rett Syndrome through the 100,000 Genome Project.

We are looking to raise funds to help us be the family we’ve always wanted to be and to be able to do the things "normal" families think nothing of doing.

George has been a trooper, helping us and his siblings as much as he can (without us asking), but we want to give him as much of a real childhood as possible. We are unable to do a lot of the things his friends are doing with their siblings. We all love being outside and having fun as a family.

Through you, our amazing supporters, we have been able to build a safe play area for the family: a fenced-off zone in the garden that includes a sensory room, a pergola with sensory elements, an enclosed in-ground trampoline, and a play area that can safely be used by all the family.

Also, thanks to our supporters, we've been able to raise funds towards securing a wheelchair-accessible vehicle (WAV) to help meet our family's transport needs.

Our next fundraising target is to help us get Mary and Oscar to NAPA UK (https://napacenter.org/locations/napa-center-london/). Should we be able to raise £11,040, Mary and Oscar would be able to attend a 3-week intensive therapy program, customized to their individual needs, that will give them huge progress in their development.

As always, thank you so much for all your support. We truly are stronger together!

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.

If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, then the funds will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child’s needs in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objects. If in those circumstances we are unable to use all or part of the funds for the benefit of our child in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objectives, then any funds that cannot be used will be transferred to be used for the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope.