Celebrating 15 years of comfort and joy
2022 is a special milestone for Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service, as we mark 15 years since we were founded by Fiona and John Devine in 2007. Since then, we’ve given hundreds of children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions, and their families, the specialist care and support that they need.
Throughout 2022, please join us in celebrating this amazing milestone. A milestone that would not have been possible without our amazing supporters.
With your help, we can continue in our journey to grow our service so we can be there for more children and their families for the next 15 years and beyond.
It all began with a very special boy – Alexander
Alexander’s bravery, strength and kindness inspired so many people across our community. It is because of Alexander that today we bring specialist care and vital support to so many children and their families that need us. Needing the support of a children’s hospice service is not something any parent wants or expects.
For John and Fiona Devine, it was something they were not prepared for when in November 2001, four year old Alexander was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Their world was consumed by hospital appointments, doctors, nurses, operations, treatments, scans and stays in hospitals. They described it as being on an “emotional rollercoaster”, which they had no control over. Without a children’s hospice in Berkshire, they would have have to travel for hours in the car with Alexander to access the specialist care and support the family needed.
These journeys were difficult and often dangerous due to his medical condition. Alexander endured four and a half years of operations, treatments and therapy, but sadly died at the age of eight. Through their experience and much research, it was clear that Berkshire needed its own children’s hospice service.
In 2007, Fiona and John established Alexander Devine Cancer Trust (later to become Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service), and so began their journey to make sure that children, like their son Alexander, and families likes theirs would be able to access the support they needed closer to home.
Our timeline
Give a gift for our 15th anniversary
Share your memories in our book of celebration
We are inviting all who have been part of our journey to share their story – those who have supported us, championed us, helped us build a much-needed children’s hospice service, worked for us, volunteered for us and also been supported by us. You can either email us or leave a message in our virtual book of celebration.
Stories from the last 15 years
We have come a long way since the idea for a children’s hospice service for Berkshire first came into being at John and Fiona Devine’s dining room table in Windsor. Throughout the year we will be sharing just some of the people that helped us get to where we are today.
Ways to fundraise in our 15th year
Events in 2022
Some of the extraordinary children and their families that we have helped over the last 15 years
Marcus
Marcus is a funny, smiley and happy 11 year old boy living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a rare progressive muscle wasting disease.
Aayushi
Coronavirus and lockdown has had severe implications for a lot of families caring for children with complex healthcare needs. One of these families...
Barnaby
Barnaby was only a few days old when doctors told his parents they should go home and make memories with their son as he would not live beyond 2 months to a year. But Barnaby, who has Lissencephaly, is now 12 years old and is described by his mother as her “miracle”.
Alexander Devine on Facebook
Shades on and chilling in our hydrotherapy pool - how super cool is Pippa?! 😎
Happy Friday everyone ☀️
#FridayFeeling #lifeatourhospice
Our gardening club volunteers took delivery of a very special gift this month - a fantastic John Deere sit on mower, which was very generously donated to us by Farol Ltd.
Matt Vellacott, Managing Director at Farol, told us "we are very pleased and proud to help such a worthy cause.”
The new mower was delivered by Farol Twyford's Manager, Barry Sharp. He kindly spent the morning with our volunteers giving them a tutorial on looking after it and showing them how to use it.
Children and families love using the outside space at our beautiful hospice and the new mower will make it so much easier to maintain our grounds for them to enjoy.
Thank you Matt, Barry and all at Farol for your wonderful and generous donation, it really will make a world of difference.
Well done to these Spartan heroes! 💪
We are so proud of the team from OpenText office in Reading who took on the mighty Spartan Obstacle Race in Henley earlier this month.
For those unfamiliar with Spartan races, they are obstacle courses that test speed, strength and endurance. The OpenText team had to conquer 20 off-road obstacles, including climbing walls, crawling under wire, traversing monkey bars, spear throws and of course lots of mud!
An amazing challenge and they managed to raise over £725! 👏
Copyright © 2019 Alexander Devine Children's Hospice Service. UK Registered Charity No. 1118947.