20 Jul Essex based Charity The Dream Factory reaches an outstanding milestone by granting their 700th Dream
The Dream Factory grants dreams to children and young adults between the age of 3 to 25 years, who suffer from life-threatening, life-limiting conditions, have severe disabilities or are sadly having end of life care, and this month we have hit an enormous milestone as we have granted our 700th dream!
Our 700th Dream recipient was brave 20-year-old Jack, who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia and underwent chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge.
Jack’s dream was to stay at the amazing Lion Lodge at Port Lympne Safari Park in Hythe, Kent and have the amazing animal experiences including the tiger feed and ranger safari.
Jack said,
“I was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at 15 back in 2015, undergoing treatment until 2019. Unfortunately, in 2021 the leukaemia returned, when as well as having chemotherapy, I underwent a stem cell transplant in January 2022. This was the most difficult part of my treatment spending 5 weeks in hospital but fortunately after spending 6 months recovering I returned to work as a plumbing and heating engineer. My immune system is still low and I’m susceptible to infection but am doing very well.
Whilst in hospital my social worker asked if I’d thought about a wish….charities like The Dream Factory give people like me something to look forward to, spending so much time in hospital it was nice to have a trip to Port Lympne, to focus on and we’ve finally just managed to make my wish come true!
Port Lympne was just amazing – We stayed in the Lion Lodge, which as the name suggests was literally next door to the lion enclosure…just a sheet of glass separating our lounge and bedroom from the huge, majestic beasts. Imagine waking up in the night and coming face to face with a lion just 6 feet away! The Lodge was awesome with its own private garden. It really was the trip of a lifetime, and I got to feed the tigers and took a safari through the park seeing zebras and giraffes and many more animals….we even had our own golf buggy to get around the park.
I like to express my thanks to everyone at The Dream Factory and Port Lympne Safari Park….you really made my dreams come true!.”
Avril Mills BEM, Honorary Freeman of The Borough of Redbridge, Founder & Trustee of The Dream Factory Children’s Charity said,
“Jack is such a lovely young man, and we are so privileged and honoured to have granted your dream as our 700th dream – after everything that Jack has been through and just seems to take in his stride, it was an honour to make your dream come true! We have helped to bring special memories and dreams to 700 families now – what an amazing milestone! Well done and thank you to everyone that has supported us since I set up The Dream Factory in memory of my darling son Oliver in 2008. We are a very small team at The Dream Factory but what an amazing Dream Team I have. My Oliver would be so, so proud – thank you.”
