All About Us
The Joely Bear Appeal has three main aims. The Appeal was originally set up to provide facilities to make stays in hospital more comfortable for young cancer patients and their families. The Appeal now also makes grants for research into the treatment and detection of cancer on children. It also promotes the importance of giving blood and of registering on the Bone Marrow panel.
Hospital Facilities
Any stay in hospital is distressing, even more so when it is a child, and particularly so for someone recently diagnosed with cancer or another life threatening illness. While the hospital staff will do everything possible, parents spend a great deal of time with their sick child, and the facilities available to them are often inadequate. The Joely Bear Appeal can provide anything from a sofa-bed to a games console, kitchen facilities to educational resources. Our aim is to make a child's stay in hospital as comfortable as we can.
Cancer Research and Treatment
The second aim of the Appeal is to fund specialist research into life-threatening illnesses which affect children particularly cancer and liver related disease. We do this by contributing to the purchase of equipment dedicated to this work, and by funding research projects which relate to our particular area of concern and which would not otherwise be possible.
Blood Donation
The need for regular blood donors cannot be stressed to highly. Everyone expects blood to be available whenever it's required, whether for surgery or for treating patients with other illnesses especially cancer. Unfortunately only one in twenty of the population who are able to be donors actually give blood regularly and the appeal is active in promoting the importance of doing so. By running three blood donor sessions each year and creating a supportive, family atmosphere at our sessions we encourage all those who are able to contribute.
Our Successes So Far
The Joely Bear Appeal was launched in 1994 in memory of Joel Renak, who died aged 4 from a rare form of liver cancer. Since then the appeal has worked on all three of it's aims and has achieved remarkable successes. We know that, with your help, we can continue this vital work.
Over 7,000 blood donations have been made at our blood donor sessions and we have added over 1,000 new donors to the national register. We have campaigned to increase awareness of the importance of giving blood regularly since 1995 and our 53rd blood donor session will be held on Sunday 17th June 2012 at Borehamwood & Elstree Synagogue, Croxdale Road, Borehamwood, Herts, WD6 4QA. Click here to join this event on facebook and spread the word
