Ayla's primary aim is to raise enough money to keep her project moving forwards for Bristol Children's hospital, however this fundraiser is also aimed at helping her build her future. You can find out more about Ayla and her goals below. Thank you for taking the time to find out more and any help is greatly appreciated.
About the lovely Ayla - aged 12 (nearly 13)
Ayla was 8 years old when she was taken by ambulance from Cornwall to Bristol Children’s Hospital. Shortly after, she was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, a cancerous type of brain tumour.
From here, Ayla underwent two brain surgeries, six weeks of radiotherapy, nine months of chemotherapy and intense physiotherapy.
Nineteen months on from her last round of chemotherapy she thought things were moving positively forward, but In early 2023, during a routine MRI, doctors found another brain tumour. Ayla, who was now 11 years old, had to endure further brain surgery in Bristol to remove a Glioma.
The past four years have left Ayla with physical challenges, trauma and uncertainty, but she is determined to beat everything that life throws at her.
Below Images - Ayla before diagnosis, during treatment, with two of the play team and at family wedding in 2023.
About Ayla the Young Fundraiser
Ayla’s Arts was created and set up with her CHES teacher at home during treatment. It started with Ayla entering the Young Enterprise Fiver Challenge. This requires young people to launch a business with £5.00. Ayla had to choose a name, design a logo, do market research, create and launch a product – and make a profit!
During a planned theatre admission in Bristol, Ayla saw a poster asking for donations of equipment for the play teams. Instantly, she turned to her mum and said: “I want to help” she then started to use her profits to donate. The hospital play team had helped her through some of the darkest and most challenging moments of treatment. Ayla now wanted to help other children in similar situations.
Since then, Ayla has created and sold hundreds of her pocket art pictures, raising over £11,000 for Bristol Children’s Hospital play teams under The Wallace and Gromit Grand Appeal.
Below Images - some of Ayla's artwork, The Dove, The Crackle, Neon Blast, Humming Bird and The Eye.
Ayla’s Arts has also provided Bristol’s play team with an art trolley, which visits nine wards in the hospital each week. This trolley is full of exciting equipment to help children create their own pocket art pictures. Once children have made their art, they can keep it or donate it back to Ayla’s Arts, where it’s framed and sold through the Grand Appeal shop. All the profits go back to the play teams – a full 360!
Ayla’s artwork has reached many countries throughout the world. You can follow her Instagram page @aylas.arts to see the pocket pictures on their big adventures!
Below Images - Ayla's Arts In Japan, Dublin, Hawaii and Iceland.
Ayla has received several awards for her hard work and dedication. She won The Fiver Challenge, 9-11-year-old Inspirational Individual Award and the Make the Difference Award from BBC Radio Cornwall. This year Prince William’s office wrote to Ayla as they were so impressed by all her hard work and achievements. Most recently, she’s been nominated for the Just Giving Young Fundraiser award too.
Now Ayla needs your help!
Looking to the future, we know Ayla is desperate to continue her fundraising for the hospital play teams. She wants to take her pocket pictures on more big adventures – and continue providing children with art therapy at Bristol Children’s Hospital.
To make this happen she needs your help! She wants to provide the hospital with ten fully established Ayla's Arts trolleys and will need card, paints, trolleys, 10cm x 10cm frames, printed forms and more art machines (which is Ayla’s big business secret).
Ayla’s long-term vision is for other children’s pocket pictures to have “big adventures” too. She wants to help poorly children create a pocket picture, donate it to Ayla’s Arts – and then display the art in each child’s dream location.
How will this work? Children will complete a form, detailing the dream location for their artwork to end up. We’ll then link this to Ayla’s Arts website and Instagram page to help make each child’s dream a reality.
This will not only give poorly children the chance to enjoy art therapy in hospital. It will also enable them to dream big in a room that is often so small and cut off from the outside world.
About Ayla the Young Artist
We also want to help Ayla by supporting her personal journey outside of her fundraising. She’s recently used her own artwork to create coasters, chopping boards, clocks, mugs and larger pieces of art for her own future. We know it won’t always be easy for her!
Ayla has already been amazing in sourcing a supplier for her products. She’s also organising her retail prices/delivery costs and is in the near stages of finalising her website ready for launch (which is all about Ayla the artist and Ayla the fundraiser).
We know the above will help Ayla build her confidence, self-worth and belief – which is so important for her and her future.
We’d love to help Ayla get all of this off the ground. To help her buy initial stock, launch the website and, in the longer term, create a personal space for her to develop. Ayla’s portfolio is growing and soon the dining room table be too small for her big ambitions. So, it would be amazing to provide her with a dedicated outdoor space to create, store and package all of her life-changing artwork.
This space will mean so much to Ayla and all the children she wants to help. It’ll allow her to carry on fundraising and building a successful small business, which will give her the positive inspiration she needs to keep going. It will also make a big difference to each child following in her footsteps.
Overview
We would love Ayla to have support with ALL of the above, and we hope you do too!
Please contact us through the Crowdfunder if you can help in any way. This could be through materials, sponsorship, donations – or providing contacts that can help take her big dreams forward.
As this page isn’t split, please specify in the notes if you’d like your donation to go to Ayla the Fundraiser or Ayla the Artist. All monies raised will be given out at the time of need for whatever is required.
Whilst Ayla is doing all of this, the late effects of the cancer and its treatment is still ongoing, but she’s not letting that get in her way. So, let’s help her continue being the star that she is!