An eight-year-old boy from East Anglia had his sporting wish come true with a ticket to the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final in July. The trip was organised by the Sports Connection Foundation which organises sporting wishes for children with life-limiting illnesses. Previous wishes granted include being an England mascot at an international football match against Brazil and meeting the Arsenal football team.
After what has been a challenging 18-months for the charity sector, the children’s charity was grateful to be able to deliver its first sporting wish since 2019, thanks to a donation by energy consultancy energetics energy.
The young boy, who has an undiagnosed syndrome that has him experience low energy and difficulty staying awake, was put in touch with the sporting charity by East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH). The East Anglian charity are themselves specialists in caring and supporting children with life-threatening conditions.
Despite having the syndrome, the boy’s carers say he was able to stay awake during the match and loved every minute of it. The game was an entertaining one too, with St Helens staging a second-half comeback to beat the Castleford Tigers 26-12.
According to Sports Connections Foundation, more than 50,000 children in the UK have life-limiting illnesses. They added the pandemic and lockdown meant that families had to isolate due to their child’s conditions, meaning little interaction with others over the past 18 months. With restrictions lifting again, the charity hopes this latest sporting wish will be the first of many this year.
Karen Olden from Sports Connections Foundation said:
This is the first Sporting Wish that we have granted since the beginning of 2019. We are passionate about ensuring that our programme starts to grant wishes to families and creating lasting memories for families once again.
Kirstie Wallace from energetics-energy said:
The work that is carried out by our charity partners Sports Connections Foundation is extremely humbling and as a business, it is nice to be able to give something back.
Image by Sports Connections Foundation