FRANKIE4’s partnership with Brainchild Foundation
Since 2016, FRANKIE4 has partnered with the Brainchild Foundation—the non-profit that provides emotional, financial and educational support for families of children with brain and spinal cord tumours.
We are grateful to our customers for their ongoing support of this incredible cause and remain in awe of what the humble sockette can, and will continue to achieve.
Q&A with Brainchild Foundation
To celebrate this milestone, we asked Brainchild Foundation's Co-founder and Secretary, Vonnie, and Fundraising and Awareness Coordinator, Belinda, to speak with us about the foundation and what $200,000 means to sick children and their families.
Q&A with Brainchild Foundation
To celebrate this milestone, we asked Brainchild Foundation's Co-founder and Secretary, Vonnie, and Fundraising and Awareness Coordinator, Belinda, to speak with us about the foundation and what $200,000 means to sick children and their families.
More from Vonnie and Belinda:
HOW DID BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION COMMENCE?
Brainchild Foundation developed after a neurosurgeon, a clinical nurse consultant and the father of a child with a brain tumour met in 2009 and discussed ways help could be provided to families of children with brain or spinal cord tumours.
Recognising both the poor outcomes for children with these tumours and the long-lasting side effects of the disease there was a great need to raise awareness in the public, to support families within the difficult journey of treatment and to target paediatric research of central nervous system tumours.
The Foundation came into existence in January 2010 with the plan to reach families nationally as funding increased.
WHO IS BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION?
The foundation is made up of a community of medical professionals, dedicated parents and friends of children and young people affected by tumours of the brain or spinal cord. We also include an accountant who acts as a book keeper and checks our books monthly. Each year these same books are audited and updated on the ACNC registry.
Board members also include medical and corporate professionals as well as parents with close knowledge of the journey these children and their families face. We are all volunteers bar one person who provides casual admin work and is my lifesaver on support. We have a SA committee who also are volunteers and work hard to raise funds for the people in their state.
WHO IS BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION?
The foundation is made up of a community of medical professionals, dedicated parents and friends of children and young people affected by tumours of the brain or spinal cord. We also include an accountant who acts as a book keeper and checks our books monthly. Each year these same books are audited and updated on the ACNC registry.
Board members also include medical and corporate professionals as well as parents with close knowledge of the journey these children and their families face. We are all volunteers bar one person who provides casual admin work and is my lifesaver on support. We have a SA committee who also are volunteers and work hard to raise funds for the people in their state.
WHO IS BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION?
The foundation is made up of a community of medical professionals, dedicated parents and friends of children and young people affected by tumours of the brain or spinal cord. We also include an accountant who acts as a book keeper and checks our books monthly. Each year these same books are audited and updated on the ACNC registry.
Board members also include medical and corporate professionals as well as parents with close knowledge of the journey these children and their families face. We are all volunteers bar one person who provides casual admin work and is my lifesaver on support. We have a SA committee who also are volunteers and work hard to raise funds for the people in their state.
WHAT IS THE ORGANISATION’S MISSION STATEMENT?
The Brainchild Foundation’s mission is to assist children and young people 0 -24yrs, diagnosed with a brain or spinal cord tumour to lead as normal a life as possible by providing financial, educational and emotional support to them and their immediate families.
Brainchild also supports research into these debilitating diseases through targeted financial grants.
WHAT IS THE ORGANISATION’S MISSION STATEMENT?
The Brainchild Foundation’s mission is to assist children and young people 0 -24yrs, diagnosed with a brain or spinal cord tumour to lead as normal a life as possible by providing financial, educational and emotional support to them and their immediate families.
Brainchild also supports research into these debilitating diseases through targeted financial grants.
WHY DO WE NEED SUCH AN ORGANISATION?
Let me take you on a journey.
A child is found to have a life-threatening brain or spinal cord tumour. As one mother told me “It was like the oxygen was sucked out of the room and I couldn’t breathe”.
Facing this journey may mean surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. All of these treatments have side effects to achieve a cure. This on top of the result of the tumour growth raising damaging pressure within young skulls.
Brain cancer treatment is intense. It will be months before it will finish. It will impact on all members of the family and often cause tension as one parent becomes the primary carer and another, strives to maintain a wage. Regional families fight the tyranny of distance as well and costs escalate in any effort to bring the family together.
While we know 74% of the 60 newly diagnosed children in any year in Australia1, will survive it is very much driven by tumour location and histology results. A brain tumour location may give a family no hope at all. Surviving treatment begins a long journey of healing and recognising that life will never be the same. Young minds battle to fit back into life with their peers. Initial physical fragility, loss of confidence, anxiousness and cruelly, difficulty in learning and remembering new knowledge, soon widens the gap in IQ. In many cases, as time passes, the disability is hidden but the child’s frustration remains because they know that they have changed. After such a medical onslaught they deserve better.
They deserve a quality of life that each of us expect as normal. Brainchild Foundation strives to improve that quality.
WHAT ARE BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION’S OBJECTIVES?
There are 5 key objectives of our Foundation, each represented by one of the stars in our logo:
- To raise awareness of brain and spinal tumours in children and to build a community of supporters committed to finding a cure.
- To improve the treatment and outcomes for children with brain and spinal cord tumours.
- To promote ground-breaking research into the causes and treatments of these tumours. To target research that is seeking to understand paediatric central nervous system tumours and translate this in to better treatment and outcomes for these young people.
- To provide support to affected children and their families.
- To raise funds to help achieve all of these critical activities.
HOW BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION PROVIDES SUPPORT TO AFFECTED CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES:
- Providing support to sick children and their families.
- Improving the treatment and outcomes for children.
- Promoting ground‑breaking research.
- Raising awareness of brain and spinal cord tumours.
- Fundraising initiatives to help achieve all of these goals.
WHAT ARE BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION’S OBJECTIVES?
There are 5 key objectives of our Foundation, each represented by one of the stars in our logo:
To raise awareness of brain and spinal tumours in children and to build a community of supporters committed to finding a cure.
To improve the treatment and outcomes for children with brain and spinal cord tumours.
To promote ground-breaking research into the causes and treatments of these tumours. To target research that is seeking to understand paediatric central nervous system tumours and translate this in to better treatment and outcomes for these young people.
To provide support to affected children and their families.
To raise funds to help achieve all of these critical activities.
HOW BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION PROVIDES SUPPORT TO AFFECTED CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES:
Providing support to sick children and their families.
Improving the treatment and outcomes for children.
Promoting ground‑breaking research.
Raising awareness of brain and spinal cord tumours.
Fundraising initiatives to help achieve all of these goals.
WHERE ARE BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION NOW?
We are gradually increasing our support of families across Australia. This is through critical financial aid as the families face the treatment journey and through support for the young person as they transition to school.
At this point we have made contact with 9 different hospitals that service families around the nation and have provided support for 8. All our referrals come through the social work team from the hospitals to ensure confirmation of the diagnosis and allow us to remain within our scope of practice. We are also continuing our commitment to providing targeted research grants into these diseases. We have also been asked to provide consultative and partnership into 2 research studies looking at quality of life issues affecting families and young people during treatment and survivorship. These studies are seeking government grants that also highlight the change that has occurred at a government level in recognition of the lack of progress made over the years for those suffering brain or spinal cord tumours.
Sadly COVID 19 has impacted on our annual camp in Queensland but we hope to see that eventuate again next year with a COVID safe plan which I think will be part of our life for some time.
HELP US CONTINUE TO RAISE MONEY FOR BRAINCHILD
FOUNDATION BY ADDING A FRANKIE4 SOCKETTE
PACK TO YOUR CART.
WHERE ARE BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION NOW?
We are gradually increasing our support of families across Australia. This is through critical financial aid as the families face the treatment journey and through support for the young person as they transition to school.
At this point we have made contact with 9 different hospitals that service families around the nation and have provided support for 8. All our referrals come through the social work team from the hospitals to ensure confirmation of the diagnosis and allow us to remain within our scope of practice. We are also continuing our commitment to providing targeted research grants into these diseases. We have also been asked to provide consultative and partnership into 2 research studies looking at quality of life issues affecting families and young people during treatment and survivorship. These studies are seeking government grants that also highlight the change that has occurred at a government level in recognition of the lack of progress made over the years for those suffering brain or spinal cord tumours.
Sadly COVID 19 has impacted on our annual camp in Queensland but we hope to see that eventuate again next year with a COVID safe plan which I think will be part of our life for some time.
HELP US CONTINUE TO RAISE MONEY FOR BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION BY ADDING A FRANKiE4 SOCKETTE
PACK TO YOUR CART.
WHERE ARE BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION NOW?
We are gradually increasing our support of families across Australia. This is through critical financial aid as the families face the treatment journey and through support for the young person as they transition to school.
At this point we have made contact with 9 different hospitals that service families around the nation and have provided support for 8. All our referrals come through the social work team from the hospitals to ensure confirmation of the diagnosis and allow us to remain within our scope of practice. We are also continuing our commitment to providing targeted research grants into these diseases. We have also been asked to provide consultative and partnership into 2 research studies looking at quality of life issues affecting families and young people during treatment and survivorship. These studies are seeking government grants that also highlight the change that has occurred at a government level in recognition of the lack of progress made over the years for those suffering brain or spinal cord tumours.
Sadly COVID 19 has impacted on our annual camp in Queensland but we hope to see that eventuate again next year with a COVID safe plan which I think will be part of our life for some time.
HELP US CONTINUE TO RAISE MONEY FOR BRAINCHILD FOUNDATION BY ADDING A FRANKiE4 SOCKETTE PACK TO YOUR CART.
References:
1 Cancer registry data.