Jake’s Heartfelt Funds was formed in December 2013 in order to help children with critical and life-limiting illnesses and their families.

The charity was the brainchild of 9 year old Jake Guy, a friend of my son Sebastian, who was born with a serious congenital heart defect. Jake has undergone 4 open-heart surgeries in his short life as well as many other smaller heart operations and is fully paced (his heart will not beat without the assistance of two pacemakers). Jake’s last open heart surgery was in October last year and although he still has a long way to go and more surgery to face in the near future he is home now and back at school which is more than anyone expected.

The short-term goal of the charity is to ensure that they can continue to help children with long term critical and life limiting illnesses in the way that they already have.

The immense long-term goal is to purchase a 2 bedroomed flat in Southampton, probably a new build to minimize maintenance costs, to house families when the children are in the UK for treatment. The charity wishes this property to be a home from home for the families and for the children themselves when they are allowed to leave the hospital for short periods of time. Somewhere families can just be together in their own company and somewhere where normality can prevail even for a short time.

This is no mean feat and there are many hurdles to overcome including the need for huge amounts of fundraising over the coming years but the charity is confident in its goals and can’t wait for the opportunity to turn them into reality.