Mystery as Toma Fund closes down
CHARITY RAISED OVER £1M TO HELP SICK CHILDREN
MYSTERY surrounds the sudden closure of a charity which raised over £1m for desperately ill children in the North East.
The Toma Fund, founded in 2011 in memory of promising Newcastle United Academy footballer Jordan Thompson, is to close its doors today with one final donation to the Great North Children’s Hospital.
Jordan, from West Denton, died of acute myeloid leukaemia in 2007, at the age of just 15, and his parents Andrea and Dave set up the charity to support other families facing the heartache of watching a child suffer from cancer.
The Westerhope-based charity offered grants to help families with both everyday and unexpected expenses which occurred during illness, as well as short breaks and days out.
But a post on the charity’s Facebook page on yesterday read: “We’d like to announce that Toma Fund will close its doors on 31st October 2018 after a successful seven years in which we have raised over £1m for children, young people diagnosed with cancer and their families in the North East and Cumbria.
“Toma Fund has donated £110,000 to refurb the Children’s Oncology Outpatients Ward at the Great North Children’s Hospital. All the remaining assets will be transferred to Teenager Cancer Trust Cancer Trust [sic].
“We’d like to say a big thank you to our team of GNR runners in 2018, who raised a fantastic £30,000 which goes a long way towards making the above donations so significant.
“Thank you to all our supporters since 2011 and everyone who has been part of the Toma Fund journey.”
Shortly after the post, the Facebook page appeared to have been deleted. The Toma Fund website also appears to have been taken offline.
No explanation for the shock closure was given, but when contacted by the Chronicle the charity said it hopes to provide further details today.