Half marathon towards PoweredByPoppy

Powered by Poppy is a community organisation that supports children and families while in the CHU (children’s haematology unit) at the royal Belfast hospital for sick children, while also raising awareness for a number of cancer charities. This organisation is ran by Mark and Sharon Ogle in memory of their daughter Poppy who sadly passed away from a very rare and aggressive form of sarcoma in May 2022, aged 10. There were 3 main things Poppy set up during her journey that she felt had helped her and would help others in a similar situation. 1. Poppy's Funky Fidget boxes - these are boxes created by Poppy with a selection of fidget toys specifically chosen by Poppy. The toys chosen were ones which had helped Poppy with specific treatments or emotions during her own journey and she wanted to share her experience with other children by gifting these. These boxes are made up and passed to the play therapists in the CHU so they can be given to childen at the start of their journey or if they are struggling at any stage of their treatment and a fidget box is deemed helpful. 2. Book called "The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse" by Charlie Mackesy. This book was gifted to Poppy when she was first diagnosed. It is a beautifully written and illustrated book about hope, courage and love and it became our go- to when we needed reassurance, to bolster our resilience or simply to remind ourselves we were doing the best we could and that we were loved. Poppy loved the book so much she wanted to share the story with others so she gifted them via the play therapists at CHU so they can be given to all children who.come through the doors of CHU. 3. Ward treats. Poppy found weekend on the ward the most difficult. There were no teachers, no play therapists. Even ward rounds were short and sweet. Tthe days were long and boring. She knew her friends, cousins, siblings were off school and most likely doing fun things eg bowling, cinema, playing in the park, having movie nights, getting takeaways. Even breakfast was the same at weekends on the ward. Boring boring boring she used to say! So she set about changing things up a bit. She organised mcdonalds dinners, donuts, yummy breakfasts, board games, arts and crafts. Anything she could think of to make the families smile on the ward if they had to be there over a weekend. And it worked. She received letters, cards, verbal thanks, gifts and donations from CHU families and as we shared her acts of kindness others would join in and help out with donations. Since Poppy has passed her friends, family and local community have continued these via the Powered by Poppy organisation whose page can be found on Facebook for more information at “Powered by Poppy”