Jonathan Ellis

Who we've helped > Jonathan Ellis

In the summer of 2006, Jonathan Ellis from Chilton complained of a sore throat and a cough. Within 24 hours he and his family found themselves in an ambulance on the way to the Royal Victoria Infimary in Newcastle.

Jonathan was found to have a tumor so large that it crushed his heart and collapsed his lung. He was diagnosed with Non-hodgekins Lymphoma T-Cell Cancer.

 

Jonathan was so brave, he endured over a year of intensive chemotherapy to reduce the tumor. His family spent endless days and nights at the hospital, juggling work and family life....with his younger brother often feeling left out. Only those who have been directly involved in such a life changing event would really understand the the pain, heart-ache and stress on the family.

 

Jonathan's mum wrote a very emotive and heart-wrenching letter explaining what families such as themselves go through in this situation.  So much so it touched us all and we decided to do something positive about this for Joanthan's family and many other local familes in the same situation.

 

With help from our friends at Yuill Homes, we ran a campaign called 'Build a Dream'. The aim was to raise £35,000 to purchase a holiday home at Primrose Valley, Scarbrough which could be used for many families with children suffering from cancer. It would allow quality family time together, far enough away from the hospital however close enough to get home if needed. We gave ourselves 2 weeks, just in time for Jonathans 8th birthday.

 

Thanks to the support of Yuill Homes and the generosity of North East Property Buyers, the listeners, local community and businesses we actually raised a staggering £58,000!!

 

To see Jonathan's visit to TFM Radio click here:

 

To see Jonathan's Birthday treat click here:

 

To see Jonathan's Tyne Tees television footage, click here:

 

The Holiday home was officially opened in March 2008 - click here to watch the video of the grand opening.