Thank You - your monthy donantion is changing lives.

The Joe Gilligan Trust is incredibly grateful to everyone who supports us through regular monthly donations. Your continued generosity provides us with a reliable source of funding, allowing us to make a real and lasting difference to families facing some of life's most difficult challenges.

Thanks to your ongoing kindness and commitment, we have been able to establish a dedicated Hardship Fund to support young families whose babies have been diagnosed with a form of eye cancer. At a time when parents should be focused solely on their child's treatment and wellbeing, the financial pressures of travel, accommodation, time away from work, and everyday living costs can be overwhelming.

Your monthly support is helping to ease that burden, providing practical assistance when it is needed most. Every contribution, no matter the size, makes a meaningful difference and reminds these families that they are not facing their journey alone.

Thank you for everything you do in making the work of the Joe Gilligan Trust possible. Your generosity is changing lives.

The Childhood Eye Cancer Trust →

The JGTrust and all our wonderful fundraisers and associates are very happy to be offering our continued support to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust.

From the team at CHECT Birmingham…

Thank you so much for this grant, which has made a significant difference to the financial situation of all twelve families who you have helped. We received the following feedback:

“We are really very grateful. The grant you gave us helped us in many ways. We were able to buy food and some medicines for D. We also used some of the money to buy food during our visits to Birmingham Hospital.”

“Thank you so much to the Joe Gilligan Trust for our grant. With weekly trips to London and sometimes multiple times a week, travel can be extremely costly so we are very thankful for your support in helping us lift some of the finances. This has meant a lot to us.”

“It's a great help with us being unable to work while on treatment.” “We are very thankful for the grant we received from the Joe Gilligan Trust via CHECT. The money came at a vital moment for our family to help ease the stress of affording our travel, parking and hotel stays during our baby daughter's chemotherapy treatment at Great Ormond Street alongside our monthly trips to Royal London. Gestures like this go a long way to help families like ours and we are ever so grateful for the support. Thank you!”

"Since we had our child’s diagnosis it’s shook our world. Being out of work and not even having time to even think about how we would even get money. From the first time I met Sarah and heard about the JGT to now I have had nothing but emotional support and she’s always and I mean always at the end of the phone for anything big or small I need or to answer for me! The help of money, grants everything Sarah has done for me and my family to take the stress off and to make this living nightmare we are living has been amazing and I will never ever be able to thank her everything she's done for us and carries on doing for us as a family."

A message of thanks from the team, patients and families at CHECT

The JGT are pleased to be working in partnership with the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust to support patients and their families with Retinoblastoma.

A Messeage From Rob, BikerDown Staffordshire

Something I wouldn’t normally post about on here but I’ve just spent a weekend in Wales supporting the Joe Gilligan Trust where I met a truly awesome bunch of people. The Mad Moorlanders led by the legend that is Andy De Caso have completed a month of fundraising for the JGT which climaxed with a 200 mile, chasing the sunset cycle ride from Skegness to Rhyl in one day. Absolutely phenomenal effort from all the guys. Heading towards raising £20k which is already helping families and young individuals with a cancer diagnosis throughout Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire and beyond. If you want to know more about this incredible (and very possibly completely bonkers) bunch of humans take a look at the link below. I’m choosing to post now as I was incredibly moved by the team’s efforts over the month but particularly in relation to Saturday’s efforts. It also dovetails with #ptsdawareness month so I’m compelled to post. Joe Gilligan was my nephew. We lost him to brain cancer in 2009 at the age of twenty. The trust is entirely the work of others, particularly my brother and sister in law Joey's Folks and I take no credit whatsoever. At the time of Joe’s passing I was incredibly angry about what I perceived to be an incredible injustice. A decade later when I finally undertook therapy with MIND Blue Light, after life (as always a combination of personal and professional) had given me one knock too many, I became aware of things such as compassion fatigue and moral injury. Both issues I was suffering with in spades and that affect many blue light responders. And yes, I was still holding onto that anger over Joe’s passing. I may post again about mental health but I’m aware that many people do, and much more eloquently that I ever could. Perhaps I’ll talk about the positives, the good people that I’ve met or the experiences I’ve had that, without an awareness of my own mental health I may never have had. Experiences such as meeting the Mad Moorlanders!

72 Holes of Golf in a Single Day

After some very early morning tee offs (4:40am to be precise at Barlaston) and mixed weather conditions, our bleary eyed golfers smashed this epic challenge. What a team, thank you all!

The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge

A fantastic effort from our hikers to begin a month of fundraising for the Trust. The three peaks is seriously tough. They faced a climb of 1585m (5200ft) and steep descents. Fortunately, the weather was kind to them and they stayed injury free.

Message from JGT Trustee Dr Steve Hollyman

Chasing The Sun Bike Ride

Message from Fundraiser Josh Davis

We are very grateful to Andy, Josh and the team for choosing to fundraise for us. Please visit their Just Giving page and let’s get behind this ambitious and exciting project. More information about this fantastic fundraising project in the the post beklow. https://www.justgiving.com/page/madmoorlanders-1703940046008?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fmadmoorlanders-1703940046008&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

The Mad Moorlanders →

Happy New Year to all our wonderful fundraisers and friends. Thank you all for another amazing year of love and support for the JGT. To kick start 2024, I would like to introduce an incredible team of hikers, golfers and cyclists led by Andrew De Caso from Cheadle. We are very grateful to Andy and the team for choosing to fundraise for us. Please visit their Just Giving page and let’s get behind this ambitious and exciting project. https://www.justgiving.com/page/madmoorlanders-1703940046008?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fmadmoorlanders-1703940046008&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

Britannia Stadium Fundraiser

On June 4th the JGT returned to the Britannia Stadium for a fund raising football match. Organised by trustee Sam Martin, it was a real family atmosphere with great support from our fundraisers and associates raising just under £500 on the day. Our sincerest thanks goes to all the players and their families for supporting the JGT with this event.

A New Laptop For William

William is currently being treated for Polymixoid Astrocytoma. We are very pleased to be supporting him with this new laptop for his school work

Chris Mulroy Running The Potters 'Arf for the JGT

Our sincerest thanks go to Chris for this fantastic effort. He successfully completed the half marathon in 1:57:44. Thank you also to everyone who sponsored him. As always, 100% of all funds raised will go to supporting our objectives. Congratulations and well done from us all at the JGT.

UK Point of Light

Fighting Teenage Cancer with Music

UK Point of Light 478. Craig Gilligan

Craig Gilligan’s son Joe was a talented drummer working towards a career in music when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour aged 18. Joe and his family stayed positive throughout his treatment and were grateful for the specialised support and care they received from the Young Person’s Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Joe sadly died in 2009, and shortly after one of Craig’s music students suggested they hold a memorial concert. That event became the start of the Joe Gilligan Trust, a charity which has raised over £250,000 to support other teenagers fighting cancer.

Since the Joe Gilligan Trust was set up in 2010, Craig has led a range of fundraising events, from music gigs to rugby matches. Many of Joe’s friends and Craig’s music students have got involved with raising money for the trust. The money is used to directly fund practical day-to-day support for teenagers with cancer like laptops for school work, or new clothes for those who have put on lots of weight due to chemotherapy treatment. The Trust also offers a platform for aspiring young musicians like Joe, with opportunities to perform gigs and mentoring and advice to support them.

The Prime Minister said:

“Craig has shown incredible strength in setting up the Joe Gilligan Trust in memory of his son. He has raised a fantastic amount of money to support other teenagers fighting cancer, and also those who shared Joe’s love of music. The practical assistance the Trust provides has made a real difference in the lives of many young people. To all those Craig has helped, he is truly a Point of Light.”

Faithful & Strong

The JGT has raised funds in Joe’s memory for over a decade. During that time our friends and associates have performed gigs, staged shows, run marathons, climbed mountains, hosted sporting events and many more fundraising activities all to assist young adults on their cancer journey. We have always been and will remain a non-profit making charity. That means 100% of everything you pledge will go directly to supporting our objectives.

What next?

Coaching Resource by Katie Poole

katiepoolecoaching@gmail.com

“If you would like a free download of this very special bespoke resource please email us from the contacts link. Alternatively, you can talk to Katie directly using the email above!”

The JGT Podcast

Our mission is to produce life affirming and inspirational podcasts from people meeting some of life’s challenges head-on. Sharing their journeys with you, our guests display courage in adversity and turn obstacles and difficulties into positive endorsements of modern day living.

Live Music Fundraiser @The Rigger

The JGT hosts an evening of live music featuring ‘The Power Hour’. This band is made up of some of the city’s top session players and we are very grateful for their time and support of the trust.

Donation Day

Visiting the Young Persons Cancer Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. It was our privilege to donate a number of electronic devices, laptops and games for the patients.

90 Minutes for the JGT

To celebrate 10 years of the JGT, the Trust organised a game of football at the bet365 stadium.