WellChild is the national charity for sick children and provides practical help for children and their families as they deal with serious illness and complex conditions.
Every day, 10 families are told the devastating news that their child has cancer or leukaemia, while each year 1,800 babies in Britain are diagnosed with cerebral palsy and 4,600 babies are born with congenital heart disease. Every week, three children with cystic fibrosis will die and at least two children are diagnosed with a liver disease every day. More than three quarters of a million children in the UK have a disability, up to 150,000 children have epilepsy, and every year, more than 800,000 children and young people will be admitted to hospital for urgent care.
WellChild’s work is essential, is funded solely by the people of the UK, and covers three key areas:
Care – WellChild has created a team of WellChild Children’s Nurses who work with sick children and their families in the community to give care and practical support to children living at home with complex care needs.
Support – To provide practical and tangible support to young people and families, WellChild has created its Helping Hands scheme which enlists the practical support of volunteers right across the country to tackle one-off projects in the homes of sick children.
Research – WellChild’s dedication to helping sick children both now and in the future is shown by the charity’s investment of more than £20 million in life-changing and ground-breaking children’s health research projects.
For more than 30 years, WellChild has been instrumental in saving the lives of thousands of sick children across a range of conditions.
