A Special Day: Celebrating Our Thanking Day and 5-Year Anniversary

On Saturday, we celebrated five years of Ella's legacy with our annual Thanking Day - honouring 3,170 young people and families supported and the community that made it all possible.

On Saturday, we hosted our annual Thanking Day and our 5-year celebration — and what a special day it was! 💛

Five years ago, we lost Ella to acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at the age of 24. We celebrated her life with an exhibition of her work at Globe Art Studios, and in the weeks that followed, we registered the Ella Dawson Foundation with the Charity Commission, setting out on a mission to ensure that every young adult diagnosed with cancer, and their families, gets the tools and support they need to live well.

Five Years of Impact

This weekend, we were proud to come together once again with Globe Art Studios to exhibit and celebrate the life-changing impact the Ella Dawson Foundation has had on over 3,000 young people with cancer and their families across the country. And of course, we had to bring the colour, arts, and that special community energy we love at all our events!

Hosting this event was different. Curating some of our case studies and impact statistics from the last five years into beautiful exhibition-style pieces was really moving — a chance to see, the difference we have all made together. 

Some highlight statistics from our first five years:

  • ⭐ 3,170 young people and families supported
  • ⭐ £784,144 raised
  • ⭐ 44% average year-on-year growth
  • ⭐ 23, the average age of the young person we support

Voices from Our Community

Ellie, Mila, and Eleanor — three members of our lived experience panel — opened the afternoon with a heartfelt and moving speech, sharing their reflections on the last five years and their aspirations for the next.

And seeing our whole community come together — whether friends, trustees, fundraisers, practitioners, supporters, or young people we support — is what pulled it all together. It's why we do what we do.

From what began with Ella's vision, love, and passion, we've built something remarkable — and it belongs to every single person who has supported us, given their time, and helped change lives along the way.

We're feeling quite emotional, incredibly proud, and more inspired than ever to keep driving forward to help young adults live well with and beyond cancer.

Thank You

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who joined us on Saturday. It was a day filled with gratitude, reflection, and celebration of just how far we've come together.

We'd also like to extend a special thank you to:

  • Globe Art Studios for generously and fabulously hosting our event
  • James Leslie Music for the beautiful live music
  • David Preston Ceramics for their wonderful contribution
  • Fin Simpson (Provocateur) for helping make the day so special
  • Gingham Caterers for the fantastic food

Here's to the next five years — and to everyone who continues to make our work possible.

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