“Little things can make a difference”

[prev] …brain tumours. To make this happen sooner we joined together with two other charities – Camille’s Appeal and Tom’s Trust – to create a pioneering new service at Addenbrookes Hospital called Brainbow. They’ve put a post in each, and we’ve put the Anna’s Hope therapy team in there. This new service – which is now providing neuro rehabilitation for children with brain tumours – doesn’t exist anywhere else in the country. If it hadn’t been for Brainbow and the Anna’s Hope therapy team, many children would struggle with everday life. For example one’s now back at school, another who’s 15 can now shower herself and brush her teeth – things we take for granted that she can now do because of that team. There was no help for her before.
Rob: The thing is, it affects the brain, so even those who survive are compromised emotionally and physically. Our vision is that every child who has a brain tumour in this region will receive the benefit of intervention with therapy from Brainbow. And hopefully this will be the model that can roll out nationally.

How did the fairy symbol come about?
Carole: We had to think how we were going to promote the charity, and it was Sara, her sister, who drew Fairy Anna. On her second birthday, Anna had a fairy party, and if you look at the logo, that’s exactly how she was dressed. We wanted it to become a brand, so that when everyone looked at a fairy they’d think of Anna’s Hope.

Rob: We use the word brand, but it wasn’t as clinical as that. I come from the world of marketing, but very few business principles were applied. It was just about what felt right.
Carole: It’s like all our volunteers – they’re all parents, none of us are paid, my office is a picnic table! I’m just really thankful to them.
Rob: But the fairy is a badge, basically, and we must have distributed 100,000 badges. And it’s those badges that make connections. People come and say: ‘I got this badge in the fish and chip shop at Market Deeping, and I’d like my golf club to support you…’

You also personally help children, don’t you?
Carole: We have helped many children and their families over the years. For example, there was a young man in Diss, whose mum rang me and told me about his brain tumour. I said: ‘Is there anything I can do for him and the family? It’ll have to be little things – I can’t send you to Disney or anything like that!’ Well, he liked football, and I discovered Peterborough United were playing Ipswich, which was his team, so I got the whole kit and he went for the day with his family and warmed up with the team. His mum said ‘It’s him back again…’. He used to play football for the county, but what with all the treatment he’d just lost the will to live. Anyway, he had a smashing time, and scored a goal so all the Ipswich supporters cheered him. Then he wrote to me and said it was the best day he’d ever had. So, those little things can make a difference.

Do you have to be very driven to do what you do?
Carole: I am very driven. I sleep and breathe this. I’ve found a gift I didn’t know I had, which is being with people and hopefully making them smile. At the end of the day, I’m an ordinary mum, and half the time I don’t know what I’m doing! But at the UB40 concert last month, I stood on the stage and spoke in front of 6,500 people. Last year, with Jools Holland, it was 7,500 people. I’ve got to confess it was really scary… I’d spoken to 2,500 before, when Holiday on Ice were in Peterborough – we were their charity, and I keep in touch with them and with Robin Cousins. But, you just think: ‘I’ve got to do this…’ And in a strange way I quite enjoy it, because I’m doing things I’ve never done before. But really it’s Anna who drives this. As a couple, as a family, we will never ever be the same again. I’m grieving every day, I’m grieving through the charity – but I’ve got to have something positive come out of it.

What do you hope to achieve through the PGER Fun Run?
Carole: We want to create events where people will have fun and get something back, and the Anna’s Hope Fun Run typifies that, because you have a sense
of achievement, you run with your friends, you may win a cup, and by the way, you’re helping kids locally. That’s the kind of thing we like to do. And, as a principle, we want every penny we make to go direct to the charity, and to do something that’s long-lasting.
Rob: We’d actually gone to Addenbrookes for a meeting a while ago, and there was a girl – about 13 or 14 – and her mum in that huge car park. The mum said: ’Are you Anna’s dad? We were on the ward with Anna, and I remember you because you helped in the playroom when Anna and my daughter were playing together’. So, not only had that girl known Anna, but that day – years later – she was going to a meeting with Brainbow and the Anna’s Hope therapy team. And that told us we’d done the right thing. It is significantly changing lives now.
Carole: We just want to give some hope and some big smiles to the children and their families.

This article has been supported by Peterborough-based Perkins Engines Company Limited, one of the world’s leading suppliers of off-highway diesel and gas engines. Anna’s Hope has been Perkins’ charity partner since 2013.

To find out more about Anna’s Hope and the many events they organise please visit www.annas-hope.co.uk

If you, your school, club or business want to raise funds for Anna’s Hope in the 2014 Perkins Great Eastern Run in either the half-marathon or the Junior Challenge in the Anna’s Hope Fun Run, or raise funds and support in other ways please contact Carole and Rob at