Our Sponsored Charity

Rays of Sunshine Children’s Charity

Rays of Sunshine Children’s Charity is a truly incredible Charity dedicated to working with children in the UK, between the ages of 3 to 18, suffering from serious or life-limiting illnesses.

The Charity does this by granting seriously ill children’s individual wishes, and granting hospital ward wishes, however impossible they seem; turning wishes into happy memories.

The Charity also works extremely hard to organise events and outing for large groups of seriously ill children such as trips to LEGOLAND and the Sunshine Concert, giving both the children and their families an unforgettable experience, and break from their daily routine of medication and hospital appointments.

Purple Surgical are delighted to be part of this incredible Charity and work closely with the organisation to raise funds and support the magnificent work they do.

To learn more about the Rays of Sunshine Charity, or to donate, visit: www.raysofsunshine.org.uk

Watch our video

Lauren’s wish to meet a real life mermaid – Rays of Sunshine’s 3,000th Wish

Lauren is 8 years old and lives in Barrhead in Glasgow. She was born at just 27 weeks and spent the first year of her life in hospital. She now lives with several health complications including a condition called Short Gut Syndrome.

Lauren’s greatest wish was to meet a real life mermaid. Lauren and her family were collected from home and taken to the banks of Loch Lomond in a chauffeur driven limousine, where she came across a real life mermaid who had ‘swum’ in especially from Los Angeles to meet her.

After the wish Lauren’s mum Laura said: “I can’t put into words what the day meant to us. No matter what the future holds for Lauren we will always have the memories of seeing Lauren run towards the mermaid and the look on her wee face. It was great for us to have something to look forward to and be a normal family for the day.”

Emila’s wish to ride a pink Lamborghini – Driven by Richard Hammond

A brand new white Lamborghini Aventador Roadster was sprayed pink for the exclusive wish of 8 year old Emilia from Leominster. Emilia developed a nonspecific cough 2 years ago which resulted in Pneumonia. She has now been diagnosed with a serious lung condition and relies on oxygen. Emilia loves speed and all things pink. Her greatest wish was to ride in a pink Lamborghini driven by Top Gear’s Richard Hammond.

The charity enlisted the help of several organisations who worked together to make Emilia’s wish come true in a matter of just days. H R Owen provided the car, and allowed it to be temporarily sprayed pink by specialist luxury car customizers, Yiannamize. The car was then transported to Shobdon Aerodrome in Herefordshire. Richard Hammond flew into the airfield in his helicopter to collect the shocking pink car and drive it to Emilia’s house. After a surprise knock at the door, Emilia rode with Richard to the airfield where friends and family were waiting to witness Emilia experience the rush of driving at a high speed down the runway.

Afterwards Emilia’s mum Rachel said “Emilia had an incredible time. The fact that the wish was turned around so quickly, meant that she was still physically able to enjoy it. This was a fantastic day that we will all remember as a family. We are so grateful to Rays of Sunshine and everyone involved for making every aspect of Emilia’s wish happen. It’s not until something awful happens that you get to find out how kind people can be.”

Richard Hammond said “It was a real privilege to be asked to make a contribution to such an inspiring, positive, unique and uplifting occasion. Emilia was charming and wonderful. There was every chance she could have been shy, but she chatted nonstop. It is truly inspiring how brave people are. Hearty congratulations to Rays of Sunshine for organising yet another unique and special occasion and to H R Owen for pulling out all the stops.”