Thanks to the amazing support we received from our Go La La for LifeLine campaign, ABTA LifeLine was able to send Zach and his family on a week away to Norfolk.
Zach is a very special six-year-old boy who suffers froma benign brain tumour, hydrocephalus, neurological disorders that affect his balance and speech, and is fed through his stomach. He also has multiple genetic health problems. His condition is so complex it has no name.
Zach’s mum Tricy, a former travel agent, is his primary 24-hour carer as Zach needs constant care and attention. This is exhausting for Tricy and her husband Andy, leaving them in desperate need of a respite break. To many, a break like this would be relaxing time away; to Zach and his family it was a chance to make once-in-a-lifetime memories, which they had not been able to do in Zach’s life before.
Zach’s mum Tricy told us that 'Zachy had a couple of days of severe pain and struggled with the change but completely came alive when we were at the beach.
'We made some beautiful happy memories and sadly we realised that most of the memories we have with Zach are around illness, hospital and therapies, medicine/feed routines etc. This holiday completely changed that as you can see from the photos.
'Zach is trying so hard to say more words and the holiday really brought that forward. We are so lucky to have such wonderful charities helping Zach and have made some everlasting memories as a result.'
Zach and his family show us why it is so important that our charity exists, and without the support we receive we would never be able to provide such amazing help for our travel industry colleagues in their hard times.