Five Rivers sponsors trek for bereaved children
We are encouraging all our staff, clients and suppliers to please give generously to the Nick Jones Foundation for Bereaved Children in support of a sponsored Everest climb.
The three-week trek to base camp is underway now, and one of our foster carers, Kerry Wilson, 53, from Westbury, Wiltshire is on the team.
As well as offering £1000 of sponsorship support, Five Rivers is providing The Nick Jones Foundation with use of its specialist clinicians to help the charity provide critical support services to bereaved children
The Nick Jones Foundation for Bereaved Children was set up by Nick, 50, earlier this year following a terminal diagnosis of heart failure.
Nick’s staggeringly high blood pressure has severely damaged his vital organs, leaving a heart transplant impossible. Nick has two children, aged 15 and 13, and set up the foundation as he believes there is not enough support available for children who lose their parents. Sadly, Nick himself lost his mother at just 15 and his father in his twenties.
Despite his prognosis, Nick has consistently defied the odds and continues to work three jobs. He is a funeral director, security guard and a doorman, owing to the fact his condition makes it difficult to sleep.
Foster carer Kerry also has two jobs – he is a therapeutic residential child care worker for Five Rivers’ Avon House residential home in Salisbury. He has known Nick for more than a decade after the pair bonded over their role as football coaches, and their sons played together for Westbury Youth Football Club.
Kerry said: “Nick is an inspiration. Looking at him, you wouldn’t believe he was living with a terminal illness, he has never let his condition hold him back. The courage and strength it has taken for him to continue fighting is the very essence of what the foundation is about and he aims for this to continue when he has gone. The charity is his legacy, his family’s pride and our inspiration.
Kerry added: “It will be a privilege and an honour to tackle Everest alongside Nick, helping to raise awareness of the families that are left behind struggling to cope with their loss. We are committed that the foundation will support children long into the future.”
Please make donations on Nick’s Go Fund Me page: https://www.gofundme.com/NickJonesFoundation