Immy finds her feet

Approaching our target

Well, as you know, we set ourselves a target of raising £40,000 – which was to cover the initial up-front payments and costs of transport and accommodation for our month’s stay in Missouri.

Never in our wildest dreams would we have believed we’d be (at nearly £38k) on the home straight before the end of February – and whilst this includes ticket sales from the Songs for Immy concert, it doesn’t include any of the other money which Roath Park Primary School plans to raise from events and their “Family Week”. Nor does it include scores of other events and sponsorships. It’s also well before the main event we’d planned – our sponsored walk. The fundraised total so far also does not include the money that Bruce and I are putting into the account which will total around £10k. We will still include all of this, not matter how much is raised by all of our fantastic and wonderful family, friends and supporters!

Those on facebook may remember I posted a link to a Daily Mail article about a little girl called Lily, who reminded me of Immy. Well I’m now facebook friends with her mum, and she told me she “highly recommends” that we continue to raise funds. Apparently they’ve spent £10k on physio and equipment in the six months since returning from Missouri – and she says there’s still a lot more expenditure ahead.

So we will continue to add to the fund for now, but we are starting to think about what we’ll do if we end up with more than we need. We’ve asked around a bit, and some people say that the money has been given for Imogen so we should keep it in a Trust for the things she will need in the future. Others (and we tend to agree) think it would be good if we could help other families who are raising money for the same surgery for their children. We are proposing that we might do some combination of the two – and would be grateful for your views. Please contact us and let us know…

It goes without saying that we are extraordinarily grateful to you all. Thank you! Xxx

5 Responses

  1. Em Rogerson says:

    Not sent ours yet… But very happy for you to use for further expense or to help someone else.

  2. Lynda Edwards says:

    I agree with Lily’s mum to continue to fundraise for Immy and set it to one side for her future needs. We are fundraising for Immy at St Thomas’ and have things planned!

  3. Elisabeth says:

    Thrilled and wowed that you’ve got so far in such a short space of time. Really well done to you all.
    As to the q. of “surplus”, I guess if you do a combination of the two (ie save some for future needs, and give some to others who’ve not been able to raise funds as easily) you’ll never regret it – and no-one’s going to tell you that you should have done it differently! It’s a great position to be in, and I’d certainly want to continue to support you doing a combination of the two!

  4. Lynn Heyes says:

    I think creating a Trust for Immy is the way to go, as undoubtedly there will be unforseen expensies down the track.
    Your insight, expertise, creativity and experience is marketable.
    You could be the Voice/Face of SDR Fundraising UK! (I know what you are thinking!)
    To have such a personable and articulate figurehead leading the way for the many children who could benefit from such incredible surgery would be amazing. Needless to say, this would incur expenses, Travelling to and fro, setting up discussion panels of health professionals and Health Ministers etc.
    I think this would be a way of helping the many. (I do realize you are already a very busy lady, but you did ask!)

  5. Kirsten says:

    I think it’s always sound advice to continue to fundraise up to the “last minute” and well beyond especially for a cause such as yours. You can’t predict what you will need funds for after the op and how much that amount might be so keep on going and when you are certain that Immy has got the maximum she can from all that is on offer both pre and post op, then you can begin to think about what you do with any “excess” monies. I’m so delighted that you are so close and am positive that you will exceed “target” to give you some financial headroom up to and beyond her treatment x

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