🌟 Help Make Felix's Disney Dream Come True! 🌟

A Sponsored Abseil Down the Spinnaker Tower – In Full Disney Style!

Meet Felix – a bright, brave, and utterly magical 4-year-old boy who is currently fighting the toughest battle of his life: childhood cancer. Through countless hospital visits, treatments, and long days away from home, Felix has shown the kind of courage that would make any superhero proud. Felix continues to smile, laugh, and fill the hearts of everyone around him with love.

Felix’s biggest dream?

✨ To visit the most magical place on Earth – Disney World! ✨

To meet Mickey Mouse, ride the teacups, and see the magic of Disney World with his family.

We want to make that dream come true. But we need your help please!

Felix's journey has placed a tremendous emotional and financial strain on his family. Between medical expenses and time away from work, a trip like this feels out of reach.

🎢 The Mission: Get Felix to Disney World

Felix adores everything Disney – from Lightning McQueen to Buzz Lightyear, from Mickey to Moana. A trip to Disney World would give him and his family precious time to make joyful memories, away from hospital walls and treatment rooms.

This is about giving Felix and his family a break they so deeply deserve – and moments of happiness that will last a lifetime.

🧗‍♂️ The Challenge: A Sponsored Abseil… in Costumes!

On 14th June 2025 to help raise the funds, my brother in law Rich and myself will be abseiling 100 metres down the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth – dressed head-to-toe as Disney characters!

Goal: We want to raise as much as possible to cover the cost of the trip, including flights, accommodation, tickets, and travel insurance for Felix , his sister Thea and their family. Just the travel insurance alone for Felix will cost just under £2,000!

💖 How You Can Help

Every penny counts. Here’s how you can support:

👉 Donate now – No amount is too small.

👉 Share this page – Spread the word far and wide.

👉 Come cheer us on – Join us on the day of the abseil and watch Spider Man and Mrs Incredible rappelling 100 meters down the Spinnaker Tower!

This is something I personally have never done before and to say I'm scared is an understatement, but seeing all that Felix and his family have gone through is heart breaking! I love all things Disney and I am going to face my fear of heights to help Felix and Thea experience the magic they deserve!

All donations go directly towards making Felix’s Disney dream a reality. Any extra funds raised will go towards supporting Felix’s ongoing care.

💬 Felix’s story from his Mum, Hayley.

"In August 2022, the day after his 2nd birthday, Felix was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma. A rare childhood cancer. We found ourselves at Royal London Hospital, one of the two hospitals in the Country that specialises in Retinoblastoma, within a few days. Felix went under his first General Anaesthetic. The results were not good. He was diagnosed with Bi-Lateral Retinoblastoma. His left eye needed to be removed immediately to save his life, whilst the right eye had a smaller tumour which could hopefully be treated with Chemo. We found ourselves in a whirlwind of appointments, scans and tests over the following week between Royal London and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

A week later we travelled back up to London to have his eye enucleation. The evening before his surgery we received a phone call from the consultant at Great Ormond Street. His MRI scan had found a third tumour in his pineal gland and a leak into his brain. Literally everything changed. We were no longer going to Royal London in the morning to have his eye removed and now that wasn’t a priority. Which considering we had prepared ourselves to have his eye removed to save his life, it was a lot to take in.

The new diagnosis was Tri-Lateral Retinoblastoma with Leptomeningeal Disease. The new plan was to start the highest intense chemo possible. This included 5 cycle of high dose Chemo and 1 cycle of “high dose” chemo. It also included a stem cell retrieval procedure. So a few days later after some more tests and having his hickman line put in we found ourselves heading up to London for his first cycle, having absolutely no idea what we were walking into, what to expect, how we were feeling, just still in this outer body experience. Felix’s older sister was able to join us for his first cycle. This involved being at Great Ormand Street hospital for a week. I would stay with Felix in hospital whilst his Dad and sister stayed near by. It was very scary and a crazy learning curve. But we got through it and headed home.

Within 24 hours Felix ended up at our local hospital, Frimley Park Hospital. The team were amazing and took such good care of Felix, however, with limited resources and Felix not getting any better, after a week we were blue lighted back to Great Ormond Street. This time leaving our daughter behind as she had just started school. Felix was so poorly, but thankfully didn’t need to go into Intensive Care. It was so unbelievably scary. I can’t actually describe the feelings, being so scared for Felix, leaving our daughter for the first time. So many emotions. He was so brave and fought so hard and pulled himself through. He had lost his hair whilst in Frimley, he lost weight, he lost himself. Again, so hard to describe. Felix was given sometime to recover and before we knew it we were going for round 2.

After each cycle, we had a 24-48 hour window to get home, before Felix would become un-well. But getting home meant we could be with our daughter, we could be close to home. Each cycle took it’s toll on Felix. He needed a ridiculous amount of blood and platelet transfusions, different antibiotics, TPN and many more things. It was gruelling, for all of us in different ways. Although it was hitting Felix hard and he took a long time to recover after each cycle, he was so brave, so strong and just kept us all going.

In between all of his cycles he would have eye exams at Royal London, MRI’s at Great Ormond Street and regular hearing test. One of the chemo drugs in his first cycle had damaged his hearing, so we swapped to a different one. He also had his stem cells harvested after cycle 3. It was non stop. We then found ourselves at cycle 6, High Dose. This was a 40 day stay at Great Ormand Street, where they basically wipe the whole body of everything. Then a stem cell transplant, then a long wait for him to recover. He had to be covered in cream 3 times a day from head to toe to protect his skin, he had to have a bath twice a day and again, many blood and platelet transfusions. Again, it was so tough, but we got through it and before we knew it, we were at the end of his treatment and it had worked.

We were told that if his cancer was to return, it would more than likely return within the first year post treatment and if it did, it would be very aggressive and there wouldn’t be anything further they could do. So we found ourselves in this new world of just waiting, watching every breath Felix took, wondering. Constantly wondering. But we started to get to life. We went back to work, Felix started to build his strength.

All was going well. It was time for his first post treatment review. We headed up to Great Ormond Street for his scan. The following morning my phone rang. As soon as I saw the number, I just knew.

The scan showed something on his liver, but because it wasn’t a scan of his abdomen, they weren't exactly sure what it was. So we headed to London for scans, biopsy, blood work, etc. After his scan his consultant came to see us and said that the only explanation was that his Retinoblastoma cells had spread and that there wasn’t anything more they could do. It was deemed as chemo intolerant. She was going to speak to people around the world to see if there was anything new she was unaware of, but wasn’t hopeful. We still had a couple of test to do over the next few days to be able to get a more defined prognosis, but we headed home. I was left thinking about how do you even start to prepare to lose your child. How do I explain to my 5 year old daughter that she is going to lose her brother. How on earth do I explain this to Felix.

5 Days later we were heading to London again for his PET scan, the final test. We were about 20 minutes away from the hospital and his consultant from Great Ormond Street called. She said that the pathology results were back and it was lymphoma cells, it was therefore treatable and for us to divert to Great Ormond Street hospital immediately. The PET scan was no longer required. I can still remember the exact part of the road we were on and remember the exact words his consultant used. Such a whirlwind of emotions. Feeling very wrong to be celebrating your child has lymphoma. But it was amazing news.

So we then found ourselves on our new journey. A 2 year treatment plan. Starting with a few intense phases before moving on to maintenance. We made the decision to move his treatment and care to Southampton Hospital and the next week he started treatment. Felix was still very weak from his previous treatment so it hit him hard. The first intense phase included 30 days of steroids, alongside his chemo. This hit Felix hard and meant he didn’t/couldn’t walk for the following 6 months. He was in and out of hospital for either chemo or being poorly. It was really tough. Then due to how it was affecting him and how long he would take to recover after each phase, his consultant felt he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the final intense phase, so he had 2 months of a new immunotherapy drug called Blinatumomab. Felix had to have a PICC line fitted and wear a backpack with the medicine in. Although tricky to navigate a small child running around with a line, it was amazing. Chemo attacks the whole body, this new drug is programmed to only attack the Cancer cells, so Felix gained a lot of his strength back and we started to see Felix again. It was wonderful.

Before we knew it we were moving on to the Maintenance phase. The plan is to supress but not flatten, so you can live as close to a normal life as you can whilst on chemo. It consists of a daily chemo at home, a weekly chemo at home, a 4 weekly chemo at hospital, followed by 5 days of steroids and a 12 weekly chemo Lumbar Puncture. Also still including his review scans, hearing tests and weekly bloods. So still rather busy.

After a few weeks, Felix got an infection in his portacath which very quickly turned into sepsis. He was very swiftly collected from our local hospital by the amazing retrieval team from Southampton. He spent the next 14 days in PICU fighting for his life. He was so incredibly poorly. When the team collected him, before leaving the Doctor spoke to us and basically told us he was very poorly and prepare for the worst. The team at Southampton were so amazing, with their fantastic knowledge and support, Felix was able to fight. We had to balance Felix in PICU and our daughter back at home. She came to visit Felix whilst in PICU and she was so brave, it must have been so scary for her, but she was calm, she asked questions, she talked to her brother. She was amazing!

He is also such an inspiration, he has been through so much, but remains so full of life. Both of them are the ones that have kept us going. We have tried the best as we can to do this journey as a family, to include our daughter whenever possible. To make something that is so not normal, our new normal. We have tried to make memories, make sitting in hospital fun and less scary.

Over the coming weeks Felix got stronger and was able to have his portacath put back in and start his treatment again. He started school last September and has done so remarkably well. Winter hit him hard and we were in and out of hospital every other week with virus after virus. But hopefully, now we have some nicer weather and can be outside more, we can get back to a new normal.

Felix is currently due to finish his treatment in July. Both Felix and Thea have been through way more than any child should have to by the time they are 4 and 7.

They have had the last 3 years of their childhood taken from them. They have both amazed me everyday with their courage, they are both truly an inspiration.

They both desperately want to go to Florida. This is something we were saving for before our world stopped. We have used all of our savings and more over the last few years, we have been very lucky to have financial support from family and friends, to ensure we have been able to support Felix.

Nearing the end of his treatment is a mixture of emotions. Whilst being pleased it will be over, we can’t help but wonder if we are going to find ourselves in the same situation as before, with a new diagnoses in a couple of months post treatment. I had to sign the same waiver saying “this treatment may cause other cancers” again for his lymphoma treatment. So we really don’t want to waste any time as we don’t know what the future holds and would love nothing more than being able to take them both to Florida for the holiday of a lifetime as they both deserve it so much. We had hoped to do this as Felix’s Wish, through Make a Wish, but sadly they don’t do trips to Disney anymore. So Laura and Rich have so very kindly decided to try and raise some funds to get Felix and Thea to Florida. I honestly can’t explain how grateful I am to them. Having spent the last 3 years feeling like I am constantly taking my children’s childhood from them, to hopefully be able to take them to Disney World, the happiest place on earth, to be free of treatment and to just be free and have fun, make memories. I am forever in debt to anyone that helps makes this happen."

Felix’s Story – Quick Version

August 2022 – diagnosed with Tri-Lateral Retinoblastoma with Leptomeningeal Disease

August 2022 – May 2023 – 5 Cycles of intense Chemo and 1 Cycle of high dose chemo including a stem cell transplant

June 2023 – diagnosed with B-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma

July 2023 – July 2025 Treatment

May 2024 - Sepsis

Because every child deserves a little magic! 💫

Donate today and help us send Felix, Thea and his family to Disney World!

Thank you so much for visiting and reading my page, and for any support you can give will be massively appreciated by myself, Rich, Felix and his family.

Kind regards

Laura and Rich

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