Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page and thank you for all the donations so far.

Eleanor developed Systemic Onset Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis when she was 9 months old. We have created this just-giving page in memory of Eleanor who was cared for so wonderfully by Birmingham Children’s Hospital throughout her life. Although Eleanor had times when she felt very unwell or was in pain you would never have known how much she had been through because she was continuously cheery and enjoyed life to the full. This was in no small part due to the wonderful care she received from the various different teams she was involved with at Birmingham but in particular from the Rheumatology team.  Eleanor actually enjoyed going to the hospital. She loved her Friday afternoon treatment, she loved the nurses in Medical Day Care and loved playing with the toys that were available, she looked forward to her physiotherapy sessions doing obstacle courses with ‘Rosie’ in the gym, she loved being cheeky to the doctors and trusted them enormously as they explained what was happening and answered her endless questions. 

For us as a family things were made so much easier by staff who looked out for us as well as looking after Eleanor during her time in intensive care, by our always being able to stay with Eleanor and by the provision of lovely clean and calm accommodation on the floor above Eleanor just 1 minute away when she was in intensive care.

We would like to raise money for Birmingham Children’s hospital in order to help ensure that other children like Eleanor, and their families continue to enjoy the benefits Eleanor had and to help fund ongoing research into conditions and illnesses that children like Eleanor face. 

Current Fundraising

Past Fundraising Activities

April 2014: Our friend, Katy Grainger, is running the London Marathon in memory of Eleanor. All the funds raised from her site will go to the Rheumatology Department at Birmingham Childrens Hospital. You can find her site at www.virginmoneygiving.com/katygraingerlondonmarathon2014 http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/katygraingerlondonmarathon2014 

November/December 2012:    The Hobina choir (of which my sister, Becky is a member) are singing in the Brighton Dome this year and  have very kindly chosen to make a donation to Eleanor's fund. We are so grateful as we want this fund to continue in Eleanor's memory. The money goes directly to the Rheumatology department at Birmingham Children's Hospital to help improve the situation for other children who suffer from JIA and other rheumatological conditions.

Thank you so very much and happy singing to you all

In summer 2011 Megan wanted to do something more to continue the fund-raising and decided to do this by climbing Scafell Pike (978 m/3209 ft) the highest mountain in England. Megan, Hugo and David did the 12m climb/walk and scramble on 17th August. Megan did brilliantly motivated by all of you kind enough to sponsor her. They were up and down in 6 and a half hours on a lovely sunny day (except for whilst they were at the very top when cloud descended!). Megan will be collecting the sponsorship money over the next few weeks and we will add that to this site. Thank you all.

Past fund raising activities include David's and Becky's run on 17 April. Both completed a hilly 10k run in just over an hour with David only 2 minutes behind Becky! They did brilliantly and thank you to everyone for sponsoring them as we are doing so well on the fund raising.

This site will stay open till 2015 and we will continue to raise money for the Rheumatology department at Birmingham Children's hospital. The money that we have raised so far has been used to contribute towards buying a new x-ray machine that makes it possible to do more accurate joint injections in the very small joints, such as hands and feet. This is now installed and includes a plaque in memory of Eleanor. Eleanor had to have these joints injected often. At times including these small joints she had more than 60 joints injected. Consequently the Rheumatology team have added a plaque in memory of her and this is now "Eleanor's x-ray machine".