Matt Haycox Foundation

Welcome to the Matt Haycox Foundation blog. In 2016 Matt Haycox was enjoying a game of football at Hartlepool FC when he found himself sitting next to a family wearing t-shirts saying ‘help Alfie walk’, so he went over to find out what it was all about.

He got chatting to Ann-marie Stalley who told him that she had set up a crowdfunding campaign on Justgiving.com for her 9-year-old son who needs life-changing surgery. Her goal was to raise a total of £50,000 to help Alfie, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 16 months old, to walk unaided for the first time.

Matt knew straight away that he wanted to do everything he could to help Alfie reach his target so he decided to match any funds raised on Alfie’s JustGiving page by Christmas. With Matt’s help, Alfie smashed his fundraising goal and had his life-changing operation less than 6 months after Matt and Ann-marie’s initial meeting.

Matt had never intended on setting up a foundation, it wasn’t something he planned, helping Alfie had come totally out of the blue. But having found the experience “one of the most, exciting, fulfilling, humbling and proudest moments” of his life, he decided to make a greater, long term commitment to helping kids in need. All we need is love at the Matt Haycox Foundation.

Having experienced Alfie’s journey along with his parents, family, friends and local support, Matt thought, if only he had a foundation like this when he had first met Alfie, he could have handed over all of the money without a thought, and that’s where the idea of The Matt Haycox Foundation was born. The Matt Haycox Foundation is a children's charity that provides financial support to the lives of seriously and terminally ill children. If you wish to donate, go ahead and complete the form on the Matt Haycox Foundation online here. A small donation from you will help us make a big difference. We are always looking for new cases of UK children who need funding for a life saving or life-changing operation. Follow the Matt Haycox Foundation Crunchbase page here.

Stars heading to Leeds for the Matt Haycox Foundation fundraiser

Welcome to The Matt Haycox Foundation blog. The Matt Haycox Foundation is a charity that provides financial support to the lives of seriously and terminally ill children and their families.  Famous faces from the world of music and television gathered in Leeds last 26 of November for “An Evening with Brian McFadden”. The event aims to raise money for children’s charity The Matt Haycox Foundation, helping children in the UK with a range of issues including Cerebral Palsy as well as supporting foster families.

Showing their support for the foundation will be Love Island stars Hayley Hughes, Paul Knops and Zara Holland. Real Housewives of Cheshire Dawn Ward and Lauren Stone will be among the celebrities confirmed as attending on the night with TOWIE star James Argent due to close the evening by performing with his big band. Held at Leeds’ oldest and best known Italian restaurant, Bibi’s, guests will be treated to a red-carpet welcome, champagne reception and fine dining experience before international pop star and former Westlife singer McFadden take to the stage to perform. The evening was expected to raise over £50,000 to help the families of children from West Yorkshire in need of vital operations.

Matt Haycox, the founder of the foundation, said: “I’m thrilled to be able to announce what is set to be another brilliant evening raising money to support children in need of life-changing treatments, and their families."

Matt Haycox Foundation works tirelessly on everything from finding the causes they support, to creating and manage unique events to raise the money that changes lives. More about the Matt Haycox Foundation here. Alternatively, you can make a difference by donating via the Matt Haycox Foundation JustGiving page here. You can also read The Matt Haycox Foundation's latest news here.

Watch the Matt Haycox video here

The Matt Haycox Foundation recently undertook a project to support fantastic foster carer, Johanna Surgeoner, to transform her garden and create a useable space for her foster children to play outside.
Johanna Surgeoner has been selflessly devoting her time, love and home to fostering children for seven years. Prior to fostering children, Johanna lived and ran her own business in Spain with her husband and children. Following the sad passing of both her mother and husband, Johanna moved back to the UK where she began working in another nursery.

With three children of her own, Johanna applied to foster children and was passed through the panel, only to receive a telephone call to say her first two foster children were arriving later that day, a call that was received ahead of her approval notification.

Johanna has fostered over 20 children, alongside providing respite for other foster carers, which proves to be challenging and trying at times, but extremely rewarding. She strives to create a loving environment and creates an extensive storybook for each of the children to keep and take with them, once they are adopted. The book includes childhood photos and memories that they can keep with them forever.

In July 2017, Johanna realized that her garden could be utilised further to support the development of her foster children and offer an outside space for them to enjoy. The garden, however, was not in a condition that could be used by the children, with a steep slope and a huge cherry tree, the outside area offered nowhere for them to play.

Following contact with The Matt Haycox Foundation, Johanna and Matt discussed how the project could benefit the children and planned how to overhaul the current garden. With the whole project taking around a week to complete, the landscapers quickly leveled out the slope and transformed the small garden into a habitable area.

Johanna has expressed her gratitude to The Matt Haycox Foundation for ensuring that the project was completed to the highest quality and has allowed her to further support her ongoing fostering. Fostering is no easy job and can include developing children who have experienced neglect and a poor start to life. Johanna has selflessly devoted her time and love to raising over 20 children, and now with the addition of this garden renovation, they can safely play and learn outside.

“I have known Johanna for around 18 months and have had the chance to meet a number of the children that she cares for and supports. I’ve witnessed the sheer amount of work that she undertakes first hand and felt the need to support her further. With the support from the government for foster carers proving insufficient to cover the essentials required, let alone an addition such as a useable garden, I was delighted at the opportunity to help Johanna. Through the foundation, we were able to support her and transform the garden into space for her to continue her wonderful work and for the children to enjoy.” – Matt Haycox

The Matt Haycox Foundation is a children's charity that provides financial support to the lives of seriously and terminally ill children. Find out more about those that the Matt Haycox Foundation has supported in the Matt Haycox Foundation website here. If you wish to donate, go ahead and complete the form on the Matt Haycox Foundation online here. A small donation from you will help us make a big difference. We are always looking for new cases of UK children who need funding for a life saving or life-changing operation. If you know of a suitable case get in touch today on the Matt Haycox Foundation Instagram page here.

A young schoolboy with cerebral palsy who dreams of being able to walk and run with his friends has passed his halfway funding goal to raise £50,000 to fund a life-changing operation. The 9-year-old Alfie Smith, who has cerebral palsy, has always dreamed of one day walking unaided and pain-free. His family is raising money to fund selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) surgery which will be carried out at Leeds General Infirmary. Alfie, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 16 months old, has until June this year to have the operation or his condition will have deteriorated too far.

Thanks to the tremendous support from his community, the generosity of his friends and entrepreneur Matt Haycox, Alfie has this week managed to smash through the halfway mark. By Christmas, Alfie’s donations had reached £16,000, and Matt Haycox has just honoured his pledge and donated another £16,000 bringing the total raised so far to £32,000.

Matt Haycox said: “Reaching £16,000 is fantastic news. I never thought when I attended that football match I’d end up meeting Alfie and getting involved to donate to such a worthy cause.”

“As pleased as I am to be helping out in this way, the main achievement is all the fantastic people who have helped to get Alfie the £16,000 in the first place so that it can be matched by me – the effort and generosity of these people is brilliant.”

The money will be used to fund selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) surgery which will help allow Alfie to fulfill his dream of one day walking unaided and pain-free.

Find out about those that the Matt Haycox Foundation has supported and how we made a difference in the Matt Haycox Foundation website here. If you wish to donate, go ahead and complete the form on the Matt Haycox Foundation online here. A small donation from you will help us make a big difference. We are always looking for new cases of UK children who need funding for a life saving or life-changing operation. If you know of a suitable case get in touch today on the Matt Haycox Foundation Twitter page here.

Matt Haycox Foundation 

Welcome to the Matt Haycox Foundation blog. Matt Haycox founded The Matt Haycox Foundation in 2019, a charity that provides financial support to the lives of seriously and terminally ill children and their families. Whether it be life-threatening illnesses, operations to help children walk again, funding for new experimental life-changing treatments, the Matt Haycox Foundation is here to make the difference. Find out more about the Matt Haycox Foundation by reading his blog.