Looking back on 20 years of making dreams come true

As she underwent cancer treatment 20 years ago, Francine Levin could never have imagined the path that illness would lead her down.

But seeing youngsters being treated for cancer at Cookridge Hospital in Leeds inspired Francine and her husband Stuart to make a difference and led to the founding of Leeds-based Make A Dream.

As a result, hundreds of seriously and terminally-ill children and their families have enjoyed unforgettable experiences, some just days before they died.

This year the charity is marking its 20th year – with Francine still working single-handedly to ensure whatever children wish for comes true. That is despite her own diagnosis of terminal cancer.

“It was cancer which brought me to these kids in a way,” she says. “Unless you are actually touched by something, you don’t always take note of these things.”

There’s just a small team at Make a Dream – alongside the Levins are treasurers Susie Taylor-Hinton and Derek Taylor – but it’s one which works tirelessly to ensure all requests are met.

“Francine is the one on the phone in the middle of the night trying to fix it so the child can meet his basketball hero or a pop group when their tour arrives in Yorkshire,” says Stuart. “Every single time, for every single child in the last 20 years, it’s been Francine.”

The family of Libby Winter is typical of those whose lives have been touched by the charity. Suffering from leukaemia, the 11-year-old, from Hull, had one last wish – to meet chef Jamie Oliver. Initially, it seemed like she would have to settle for a chat on the phone, but when Francine heard he was running a workshop at Bettys in Harrogate, she made sure Libby was the star guest.

“That was the Sunday,” says her dad Ian. “By the Friday Libby had gone to sleep. We lost our daughter, but what Francine, Stuart and Make A Dream did for us by giving us those memories, memories that we would never have had without them, I am not sure they will ever realise.”

Libby’s family later set up the Elizabeth Winter Memorial Trust, which has since raised £15,000 for Make A Dream, but for Francine the look on the faces of the children is enough reward.

“The most important thing to me was to make sure that the children got to do something they really wanted to do, not something their family thought they wanted,” says the 65-year-old.

“And whatever that dream is, we want the entire family to be there with the child as cancer is something that affects everyone around you.”

While Francine was successfully treated for her first bout of breast cancer, she was more recently told the disease was in her bones.

“The treatment I am on is helping,” says the mother-of-one. “But when someone says you are on palliative care then I’d rather just make the most of my life. In a way, those people with a terminal illness are better off as we do as much as we can while we can.”

With Francine having been told her cancer is incurable, the couple say they can understand better than ever the importance of including the whole family.

“I do know that if there’s a family of three children and one is very poorly, as much as the parents try to look after the other two children, their primary thoughts are with the one who is poorly,” says Stuart. “They find it a very difficult balancing act.”

To make the dreams of hundreds of young patients come true, the charity has raised more than £1m over two decades. Its biggest fund-raising event is its annual gala dinner, which this year takes place on November 7.

Despite the charity being small, over the years a stellar line-up of stars have attended.

Previous guests include well-known newsreader Sir Trevor Macdonald and Sir Alan Sugar and they’ve even pulled in supporters from across the globe, such as some of the Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days in 2010.

Stuart has countless anecdotes, including flying one celebrity in by private jet, or of coping with wacky behaviour from others.

But most have been only too delighted to help the charity.

The couple hope that this year’s dinner, featuring footballer Kevin Keegan and former head of 
M15 Dame Stella Rimington, 
will be more successful than 
ever.

Francine adds: “Looking back I am so proud of the work that we have done, and I have no intention of stopping what we do.”

Buy tickets for the dinner, at the Leeds United Conference Venue, via www.makeadream.org.