Picture of Grace Kelly flies around America to fulfil her dream
A photograph of Grace, who always dreamed of flying before she passed away was found hidden on a Frontier Airline aircraft in America.
Grace Kelly was just four years old when she died from a rare kidney tumour in 2014.
Six weeks after her death, her grandparents hid the picture behind a bathroom mirror of a Frontier aircraft, with an emotional message.
It read: “Our little angel had always wanted to fly – so she flies with Monarch – hidden away for as long as possible.
“Happy travels darling Grace, you made our life just perfect for all too short a time.”
The photograph was recently discovered by maintenance workers in Tampa Bay, Florida, who read the message left by the grandparents and were so moved that they decided to leave the picture in its place so Grace could continue to fly.
One of the Frontier Airlines maintenance workers who found the picture shared the story with a flight attendant who reached out to Jen Kelly, Grace’s mother.
Grace’s story has now been shared across America.
Jen Kelly, from Crowle, founded The Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust in 2016 in Grace’s memory.
I am so proud of Grace and all that she has managed to achieve. I always knew that Grace would move mountains. This is not the way anyone would have chosen, but now Grace is not only moving mountains but soaring above them too. She never had the chance to fly in a plane, so to know she is flying around high in the clouds is truly special. We are so thankful to Frontier Airlines for keeping Grace on board and we are truly grateful they tracked us down to let us know. Thank you so much to everyone who has made this possible for our girl
Jen Kelly, CEO & Grace's Mother
For more information, please contact:
Emma Williams, Charity Operations and Fundraising Manager – emmawilliams@gkcct.org
The Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust is a charity based in Worcestershire which provides support to families affected by childhood cancer. The Trust was set up in memory of 4-year-old Grace Kelly who passed away in 2014 from a rare kidney tumour.
Led by Jennifer Kelly (Grace’s mother) having experienced first-hand the devastation and heartbreak childhood cancer can cause, she has made it her mission to help other families facing childhood cancer. The Trust is led by Jen making the Trust truly unique in understanding the needs of the families that we support.
Families are supported by medical teams in hospitals right from the very beginning of their journey but more often than not that is where the support ends. Families are very much missing the emotional and practical support that they very much need and deserve; this is where the Trust is there to support and bridge that gap
The Trust also funds research into rare and aggressive childhood cancers, works to educate families and clinicians about the signs and symptoms of childhood cancer and produces information booklets that are written by medics to explain to parents and children about the treatments they are facing.
We provide financial, practical and emotional support to local families in Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire through our family support service at the charity giving families a listening ear at the time when they need it most. This includes a national online support group, local home visits and bereavement support when it is needed.
We work closely with local hospitals to ensure we reach the families that need us most. The demand for our support is growing daily and we want to ensure we can continue to offer our services for many years to come.
Just a small team of six part-time team members we are a rapidly changing charity offering a shining light at such a dark time for many families and we work tirelessly to ensure we support as much as we possibly can.
The Trust receive no statutory funding, so every penny is raised through grant funding, charity campaigns and events which we are finding are still heavily affected following the covid pandemic and are still affecting our income.
The team are dedicated to providing quality and much-needed support to families affected by childhood cancer whilst empowering others with the information they need to help children be diagnosed earlier.
The Trust works hard to promote and protect good health among children, in particular by:
By raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of childhood cancer, we are working towards ensuring that children receive an earlier diagnosis which may hopefully result in a better prognosis.
We work hard in raising awareness of childhood cancer, it isn’t as rare as a lot of people realise. 1 child in every 450 is diagnosed with cancer by the time they celebrate their 15th birthday, this equates to roughly two children in each secondary school.
We are working hard to educate and promote the signs and symptoms of childhood cancer and ensure that the key signs are easy to recognise. Our signs and symptoms cards are distributed inside the red baby books that new parents receive upon the birth of their child.
Current treatment of childhood cancer is extremely aggressive and can cause additional health concerns and complications. By trying to find kinder treatments this may have a more positive outlook for children in the future.
We need to act on this now to make a change and a difference in the future.
When a child is diagnosed with cancer, you suddenly have to make decisions about things you previously knew very little about. Our publications have been produced to provide information and helpful tips from others who have been in a similar situation.
We have publications for parents that are written to give the information they really need.
Our pulications for children have been written and designed to provide a simple explanation of what is happening to them with the intention of supplementing the advice given by the medical team.
These booklets are simple, non-daunting, colourful and designed to be quick to read. They are suitable for children of all ages as they can form a basis for discussion. Our booklets are stocked in hospitals nationally.
When a child is diagnosed with cancer, their whole family’s world is turned upside down. Suddenly they become faced with an uncertain future, overwhelming information, a very unwell child, complex medical decisions, increased costs, and a huge amount of uncertainty and worry.
The Trust is there to help support families every step of the way with practical, financial and emotional support. Many of our families have children that undergo treatment, recover well and return back to school in remission, but they still need our support to come to terms with all they have been through.
For the families that do not have a happy ending, our support can make such a difference as we remain the constant support that they need and give the much-needed ongoing bereavement support that the whole family will need.
In the last year, the Trust have supported 3400 people which includes our families:
- 38 diagnosis support packs given to families in hospital
- 41 buzzy devices given to children to help with needle and other painful procedures
- emotional and practical support to over more than 60 families through our family support service
- 15 children have been supported with an AV1 robots to help them continue their education whilst in hospital
- Rhabdoid families support group with now over 200 members internationally
- To date we have reached over 2 million families with our signs and symptoms awareness cards, medical publications for clinicians, parents and children and those who have benefitted from the financial support so desperately needed.
For the next few years, the number we are supporting will keep on increasing as we work hard to raise awareness of our services with the hope to reach as many families as possible that we possibly can.
