“Taylor Made Dreams has given us some very precious memories”

Local charity Taylor-Made Dreams turns unimaginable grief into a lasting legacy by helping children with life-limiting conditions experience joy and unforgettable memories with their families during the precious time they have together. Here Eileen Leahy discovers more about this incredible organisation and talks to Alyce Le Brunn-Healey (pictured above) about how it has helped her and her family after the loss of daughter Sofia earlier this year…

Taylor-Made Dreams is a charity that provides children with life-limiting illnesses many therapeutic, supportive and financial services and rather uniquely the opportunity to access a variety of personal ‘bucket list’ experiences.

Since the Crowborough-based charity was founded in 2014 by Suzi Mitchell, following the death of her 15-year-old son Taylor, hundreds of children have managed to enjoy so many incredible bucket list experiences during the precious time they still have with their families. From personal story time sessions with comedian-turned-children’s author David Walliams to farming with Jeremy Clarkson and trips to Legoland, the charity’s focus is on making seriously ill children’s dreams come true.

The idea was inspired by Taylor himself. He was a huge fan of the comedian John Bishop and so his mother Suzi emailed John telling him all about Taylor. The stand-up star was very moved by the family’s story and invited them to one of his shows.

“By then Taylor was in a wheelchair and I thought we only had two tickets so I had left my two other sons at a friend’s house nearby,” explains Suzi. “When we arrived John had very kindly given us a box from which to watch the show and when he came to meet us in the interval he asked me where my other sons were. I told him that I thought the tickets were just for Taylor and myself and he said he wouldn’t start the second half of his show until they arrived. So he got his chauffeur to collect them – it was so generous of him.”

John has been a part of the charity ever since and is its official patron. He too has also been frequently involved with bucket list requests – the most recent one being a visit to Anfield, Liverpool FC’s ground, with a ‘TMD Warrior’, which is what the charity calls the children who are referred to them.

“Creating a bucket list for a child is a fantastic way to leave lasting and very precious memories for families to cherish,” continues Suzi. “It’s also about providing moments of comfort; a better quality of life and memories to cherish.”

She adds that setting up the charity, which now covers all of Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Essex, was a way to process the acute pain and loss she and her family felt after Taylor’s passing.

Over the past decade Taylor-Made Dreams has also provided holistic and financial support for its TMD Warriors and their families and also used its experience to identify gaps in the healthcare sector where some of the strain can be taken off the families of terminally ill children. This includes providing a £500 medical travel grant which means parents can travel privately and in comfort to appointments with their child. Specialised pieces of expensive tech equipment are also accessible through Taylor-Made Dreams’ ‘Technology Loan Library’. This is especially useful for nonverbal children or those whose speech may deteriorate due to their serious illness.

The charity also launched its Sibling Support Service in 2022. The idea is to give the brothers and sisters of the children with life-limiting illnesses respite and the opportunity to experience something fun too.

“These children are living through trauma every day so this gives them some time out. They can go to the theatre, take part in a bespoke workshop or visit an escape room. They are with other children who are going through similar things so it is a good opportunity for them to connect,” smiles Suzi.

And although Taylor-Made Dreams has expanded its key offerings over the past eleven years to include other things such as family portrait sessions and keepsake jewellery workshops, it still retains a very familial and personal feel which is something the families it supports believe makes it so very special.

The bucket list experiences are funded by the charity’s many generous donors. Support can be done by fundraising as an individual or sponsoring any of Taylor-Made Dreams’ numerous skydives, Dragon Boat races and running events.

Businesses can also help by joining the charity’s Titanium Circle. There are four levels of sponsorship which start from £50 and go up to £500 a month.

Ever since the charity was founded each child who is referred to them is gifted a silver dragonfly which is the symbol of Taylor-Made Dreams. The pendants are engraved with the child’s name and it becomes a precious keepsake.

The charity has a number of referral partners including Demelza, ellenor, West Kent Disabled Children and Young Lives vs Cancer. It was the latter charity who suggested that Alyce Le Brunn-Healey and her husband Rob get in touch with Suzi and her team when their eldest daughter Sofia was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer.

Alyce spoke to this publication exclusively about the special experience Sofia, who sadly passed away on March 31 this year, and all the Le Brunn-Healey family had – and continue to have – courtesy of Taylor-Made Dreams…

“Sofia was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer in November 2023 when she was just five years old.

At the time of her going into hospital I had a five-week-old baby and a two-year-old toddler so we were just an ordinary family who suddenly found ourselves in the most awful of situations.

Sofia responded well to the surgery she underwent but we had no real idea of how long we had left with her.

We were under the care of the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital in Surrey and they put us in touch with the charity Young Lives vs Cancer. They told us the areas they could support us with but also advised us to connect with smaller charities who also do amazing work.

The one they put us in touch with was Taylor-Made Dreams. I won’t pretend that it wasn’t tricky for us at first when we saw the charity focused on children with life-limiting illnesses. Like most parents, when your child is ill you really are in No Man’s Land. It’s the not knowing whether they are terminally ill or whether there is a chance they will get better. So seeing the words ‘life-limiting’ was for us as parents very challenging.

But on meeting Suzi not only was she warm, kind, caring and compassionate, she was somebody who got what we were going through because of her own experience. She’s one of the most selfless women I’ve ever met and because of what she has gone through we know there is a deep and very genuine level of empathy from her. Sofia fell in love with her immediately.

Suzi explained that the words ‘life-limiting’ meant that when children are unwell it limits what they can do because a sick child can’t do what a healthy child can. She really helped us to reframe our thinking about all of that because naturally you want your child to live a good, long and healthy life so it is very difficult when this is not the case.

As a child Sofia had pretty much everything she wanted but the bucket list ideas that Suzi talked us through were just incredible.

While Sofia was alive we had the opportunity for all our family, including my mum and sister and Sofia’s cousins, to go along to see the musical version of Frozen in the West End. We were driven there and back in a limousine and we had lots of fun listening to music and going for a meal in Chinatown. We all had such a magical day, and I know this meant the world to Sofia. I think for a minute or two we were all able to forget that the last six months had happened, and it was like old times again.

When Sofia first met Suzi she told her how much she loved animals and Suzi told us the charity could help us with a visit to Port Lympne. But unfortunately, we didn’t actually get to do that because Sofia became too poorly.

We did however get to throw a very special Easter party for Sofia and all of her classmates at school which was one of the most wonderful experiences. She loved Easter and doing lots of arts and crafts so Taylor-Made Dreams ensured there were plenty of seasonal decorations and activities for the children to do – plus a big chocolate cake. The Easter Bunny even turned up…

Suzi and her team also put us in touch with Wendy Kemp, a jeweller from Crowborough who helped Sofia and me create beautiful keepsakes made out of shells.

After selecting moulds and the accompanying beads and gems – all of which were symbolic – Sofia made a large shell and love heart peacock pearl. This resembled faith and charity. All of the jewellery has Sofia’s fingerprints on the back and that has created another unforgettable memory for us.

Our other children, Freddie, 5, and Bea, 2, were also hugely supported by Suzi who would send sporadic packages in the post for them every now and again. That made them feel happy and excited because although they were very young, this situation can be very tough on siblings too.

After Sofia passed away on March 31 this year we received £1,000 towards the funeral costs and also £250 to commission the lovely Wendy to make some jewellery using some of Sofia’s ashes.

I remember saying to Suzi when you’re in the middle of a tornado the last thing you want to do is stop and talk about the tornado, you just want to survive it. And she said she totally understood what I meant. These generous gestures, including counselling, make all the difference.

I think it’s an important point to make that Taylor-Made Dreams is not solely mum-focused. Dads can often feel helpless at such a very difficult time but Suzi and her team ensured Rob was always supported too.

Taylor-Made Dreams has given us some very precious memories and opportunities that we wouldn’t have otherwise had.

Those experiences made Sofia so happy. It was great for us all as a family and to see Sofia loving all that magic and fun – and being a kid again – after being through so much and being so brave.

Sofia knew that something had happened to her in terms of the different surgeries that she’d had but she was the epitome of resilience – she never once told us she was in pain. It was only towards the end when she was having seizure activity in her arm when she said, ‘this is actually really annoying and it’s quite uncomfortable’. She was truly amazing and kept going to school in between radiation sessions right up until the month before she passed away. Any work that she had missed she would catch up on. She was so driven.

Did she know she was dying? I don’t know. As a family we didn’t really want to focus on that. Whether we were right or wrong in the way we dealt with that we’ll never know but the only thing I can say is that Sofia knew that she was loved and I think that’s maybe more important for a seven-year-old…

At the end of her life, Taylor-Made Dreams sent some cushions so we could prop Sofia up and keep her comfortable. Thoughtful things like that mattered so much to us.

Earlier this summer we created The Bluebell Circle to remember Sofia, and Suzi has given us so much advice about this.

I get the feeling we will always be a part of the Taylor-Made Dreams family – and they ours. Taylor-Made Dreams really do provide families going through their darkest times with some much-needed light and we will be forever grateful for that.”