ABOUT EDWARD'S TRUST

"Edward's Trust was set up in 1989 as an organisation with a very personal mission. Through the heartache of our loss we found strength from those around us (the friends, the family, the school) to help those who had helped us at a time when the unthinkable happened.
We spent a year travelling backwards and forwards to the Children's Hospital for treatment, for inpatient care, for 'scares'. Every time we were met with a smile from the doctors and nurses. The dread was not with the medical care but with the accommodation and the journey. Edward was always apprehensive, we were scared and the short journey of 10 miles was regularly a nightmare. But it was a journey we had to take. We knew that we were fortunate in having our own car, that the nature of our work meant that we could both take the trip and it was 'only' 10 miles. We knew many families who were nowhere near as fortunate.

"Through the pain and grief of loss we decided to turn the goodwill of Edward's community to the benefit of other families. Personal gifts and, later, more direct fundraising efforts helped us to realise our vision. Within two years of setting up the Trust we had opened our first 'home-from-home'; Edward House. This provided accommodation for 9 families whilst their child was receiving treatment for cancer or leukaemia at the hospital.

"Shortly after opening Edward House we realised that there was another need for our families. Many were fortunate and treatment brought remission. Some, inevitably, did not make it. The help and support that we were able to provide at Edward House throughout the treatment, had to end. There was nowhere to go. We did not have the resources or the expertise to provide support to families who were suffering the loss of a child.

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"Knowing personally what it is like to drift through the loneliness of grief without support, we focused the Trust efforts to extending its services to all families who grieved the loss of a child from whatever cause. To achieve this the Trust spent the next 18 months, not only continuing to run Edward House but also planning and fundraising for its second project, Sunrise, the West Midlands Child Bereavement Centre. In 1993 Sunrise met its first family.

"The scale of the organisation that is now Edward's Trust is still firmly rooted in the vision of its very personal beginnings. Our values are centred in the trust that a small seven year old boy put in his parents and doctors to do the best they could in very difficult circumstances. He never felt comfortable in hospital and loved getting home. We know how important home life is and the surroundings at Edward House create that atmosphere. Through the darkness of grief we found it hard to appreciate the bright sunny days, but, now, looking back we know that the sun will rise again. Through our Sunrise project we hope to be there for families at their darkest time of need.

"The Trust is about some of the basic needs that we found wanting in our lives during the most unthinkable events of our lives. We hope that the facilities that we offer continue to fulfil Edward's trust."

 

Peter Dent
Founder and Director