Abby's Heroes

Abby's Heroes is a UK-registered charity founded in memory of Abby, a teenager treated for cancer at Southampton General Hospital, to provide comprehensive emotional, financial, and practical support to children, teenagers, young adults (aged 0-24) diagnosed with cancer and their families treated on the Piam Brown and Teenage Young Adult (TYA) wards at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. Rooted in empathy and the founders' firsthand experience, its mission ensures no family faces childhood cancer alone, offering wraparound aid from diagnosis through treatment, relapse, palliative care, and bereavement. Core values emphasize practical care, sustained emotional support, memory-making, and holistic family resilience, with a distinctive hospital-partnered, personalized approach prioritizing immediate impact over systemic change.

The charity exclusively funds direct support for these patients and families, including emergency hardship grants for travel, parking, accommodation, and lost income; welfare packs and comfort bags; specialist counselling and play therapy; siblings' activity programmes; grandparents' gatherings; respite days out; end-of-treatment gifts; and bereavement resources. Aid extends to siblings, parents, and grandparents, focusing on psychological relief, practical barriers, and positive experiences within the hospital's South Coast catchment (Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, West Sussex, Isle of Wight).

Eligibility is strictly limited to individual families under the specified wards' care—no unsolicited applications from charities or organizations; support is nominated via an online enquiry form in partnership with hospital clinical teams. There are no entity, income, or size requirements, as funding bypasses organizations entirely.

Grants typically range up to £250 per award (with exceptions for urgent needs), disbursed on a rolling basis year-round with decisions within weeks. Abby's Heroes stands out for its hyper-local expertise, refusal of research/capital/project funding to other groups, and unwavering direct-to-family model, making it the South Coast's go-to for personalized cancer journey support.