The National Children of Wales Awards are delighted to be supporting Dreams & Wishes, a UK based charity founded in 2011. It is dedicated to helping seriously ill children by making their dreams and wishes come true. Those who work at the charity provide vital support throughout the child’s illness, as well as helping to build happy memories by granting lifelong wishes.

Having a serious illness at any age is awful; however, for a child it is unimaginable. There is a sense of a ‘lost’ childhood, as most of their time is spent in hospital undergoing painful treatments.

Dreams & Wishes want to enable these brave children to hold on to their childhoods for as long as possible, and they do this in remarkable, heart-warming ways.

No matter how big or how small these dreams or wishes are, the charity is dedicated to make them come true. Children have been able to meet their favourite TV stars, fly in a helicopter, visit Legoland, or just have their own playhouse. Whatever the request, the team at Dreams & Wishes dedicate themselves to make it happen.

Joseph Calzaghe, former Welsh professional boxer who competed from 1993 – 2008, is an ambassador for Dreams & Wishes. He has a long history of working with children’s charities and came to Dreams & Wishes as he found the children they work with hugely inspirational, and wanted to help the charity continue to help children.

One of the Dreams & Wishes Ambassadors is 16-year-old Helen. In 2012, Helen found a lump on her chest, and was sent to the Health Hospital for further tests. She was diagnosed with Anaplastic Large T-Cell Lymphoma, also known as Non-Hodgkinsons Lymphoma.

Shortly after this devastating news, Helen was admitted to the Teenage Cancer Trust unit, where she underwent intense treatment for a few months.

Helen expressed her joy and happiness when Dreams & Wishes came and offered to help her and her family.

She said: “They really helped me and my family throughout my illness. The charity has done a lot for me while I’ve been ill and they’ve helped me to make some amazing memories.”

Thanks to those at Dreams & Wishes, Helen was able to meet One Direction, Olly Murs, James Arthur, and Rylan Clarke. These celebrities were so important to Helen when she was going through her treatment, and being able to meet them made her dreams come true.

Since it is a charity, Dreams & Wishes mostly relies on public donations. Without the generosity of you at home, many seriously unwell children wouldn’t be able to have their wishes granted.

The public can donate in a number of ways, including over the phone, by text message, by post, or via the internet. Companies are also encouraged to donate a wish, and can do so either over the phone or over email.

With the proceeds from the Awards, we hope that Dreams & Wishes will continue helping children to forget about their illnesses for a while, and regain part of their childhood.