Sophie's Legacy: What is Sophie's Legacy? How did it start? What does it do?

Who was Sophie Fairall?

Sophie, from Stubbington, was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in September of 2020, but sadly she died at the age of 10 after a year of battling her cancer.

The nin-year-old began experiencing symptoms in the summer of 2020 where she began having stomach pains and nausea, and following multiple calls and virtual chats with the GP, she finally saw a doctor face to face. The doctor told her that it was a bowel infection and it would get better on its own which, for a few days, it did - but it was when Sophie was on holiday with her grandparents and cousins that things took a turn for the worse.

Whilst on holiday, Sophie began bleeding but she was too embarassed to tell anyone and Charlotte noticed the blood in her clothing when she came home from the holiday. Charlotte immediately rang the doctors but she was dismissed and told that this was Sophie's first period - but she knew something was not right. After calling 111 the next day and being referred back to a GP, Charlotte made the decision to take Sophie to A&E.

Tests were conducted at A&E and doctors found a lump in her stomach which they investigated further. Over the next few days, Sophie was in hospital, and she had MRI scans, ultrasounds and further tests and it was then that they discovered a tumour 12cm in size. Unsure whether this tumour was benign or not, they decided to remove it - the operation was much more complicated than anticipate and they could only remove 95 per cent of the tumour.

Following the surgery, the doctor concluded that the tumour was likely to be a rare form of cancer. After recovering from her operation, Sophie then had gruelling treatment in a bid to get rid of the cancer and,at one point, it looked hopeful as the remaining tumour was a small dormant mass. During routine MRI's and checkups, doctors found a brand new mass in the area that had received a huge amount of treatment. As a result of the new tumour, the doctors confirmed that any treatment would be about giving Sophie more time rather than a cure.

Sophie stopped treatment in July 2021 and passed away in September 2021. Despite going through treatment, the inspirational 10-year-old was determined to make other children in hospital happier, and when she knew she was dying, she decided to make a bucket list of wishes to make hospitals a better place for children. She made her mum, Charlotte Fairall, promise that she would try her best to make these changes for the better.

What is Sophie's Legacy?

Sophie's Legacy was established in January 2022 by Charlotte Fairall in order to keep her promise to her daughter that she would fight for change. The charity started small but it quickly caused a stir nationally and now, it is paving the way for a brighter future for children diagnosed with cancer. Since establishing Sophie's Legacy, people in the Hampshire area have rallied to show their support and people are constantly holding fundraising events in a bid to help fund the charity.

Sophie wanted a number of changes to be made in her honour including having a play specialist 7 days a week in hospitals, improving the food for children in hospital and for parents to be fed whilst staying in hospital with their children. She also wanted GP's, nurses and health professionals to be trained in childhood cancer in a bid to spot the signs of cancer soooner and for the funds into childhood cancer research to be increased.

The charity is run by Charlotte and a team of dedicated employees who are working hard to help as many families in need. Within the first year, Sophie's Legacy had managed to make a tremendous impact on families and children in hospital by starting up pizza Saturdays. Once a week, pizza donations are delivered to hospitals in the area in order to give children something to look forward to.

What does the charity do?

Whilst the charity is constantly working towards national change, its ethos is to help local families who end up in hospital with children. The support that Sophie's Legacy offers can vary depennding on each person's situation and needs - but as a whole, there are a number of ways they can help. This help includes helping with transport costs, providing clothes for children and parents when a child is admitted to hospital in an emergency, organising birthday parties in hospital, vouchers for Costa or for the hospital shops as well as emotional support.

The charity has also been working alongside hospitals and they now offer a snack and toiletry box in every parent room or kitchen, parent packs which contain essential toiletry items, phone chargers, note pad and pen, snack etc, and a trolley of food, drink and toiletries 7 days a week at QA Hospital for parents on CAU and children's wards. An art practitioner is also now at Portsmouth Hospital and in the community for children who spend long periods of time in hospital.

As well as all of this, they also provide a range of things to hospitals including new bedding, highchairs, pushchairs, microwaves, freezers, cutlery, crockery, toys, activities and things to do over Easter, Christmas and Halloween as well as gifts for Mother's Day and Father's Day.

For more information about what Sophie's Legacy does and what it provides, click here.

How has the charity created national change?

Charlotte has been working alongside Caroline Dinenage, Gosport MP, in a bid to create national change to improve the way that childhood cancer is detected and dealt with. In January 2022 Caroline raised the matter in Prime Minster’s Questions and in April 2022 she secured the first ever childhood cancer debate in the House of Commons. Caroline has now been made the new Chair of a Government Taskforce. This new Taskforce will unite top clinicians, leading cancer charities, and the Government, with the common goal of saving lives and reducing the long-term impacts of cancer.