2wish was born in 2012 by Rhian Mannings motivated by a desire to support others. On 22nd February 2012, Rhian’s baby son, George, tragically died shortly after his first birthday. George suffered a seizure at home and Rhian later found out that he had been suffering from Bronchial Pneumonia and Type A Influenza. Just days later, Rhian’s husband Paul, took his own life, traumatised by the loss of their son.
Rhian didn’t leave her house for months following George and Paul’s deaths and her family found themselves alone dealing with their grief. When George died, they were given a support leaflet containing telephone numbers and reached out to each one, but never heard anything back. Rhian’s family and friends rallied around her and supported her through these worst of times and eventually turned their focus to fundraising. Their initial aim was to provide the local hospital with enough funds to create a bereavement room for families, something which wasn’t available to them when George died. With her close support network, Rhian raised the funds and took them to the hospital, but they didn’t feel they had the space or need for this at the time. She went instead to the hospital in Cardiff who accepted the funds for a bereavement space and who on meeting Rhian and hearing her story and her belief that immediate bereavement support could have saved her husband, decided to work with her to create a trial. This trial was for the immediate support pathway that 2wish now provides across the whole of Wales and beyond. What started out as a simple memorial fund became much more. 2wish upon a star was born, providing immediate support to families bereaved suddenly following a paediatric death, memory boxes that are kept at the hospitals and mortuaries and refurbishment/creation of bereavement rooms at emergency departments and hospitals.
By 2016, 2wish upon a star had its own office and employed 4 members of staff along with a community of volunteers and dedicated community fundraisers. They offered support to all family and friends following a bereavement and to professionals affected by a child’s death too. Support groups were set up across the country for people to come together and meet other people who had experienced this kind of bereavement. The charity also expanded its offer of support to include young people up until they turn 26 years old.
By 2018, awareness had grown and 2wish was now an all-Wales charity and their support was offered to families and friends across the country. The organisation works closely with the Welsh health boards, Police departments, mortuaries, coroners and organ donation teams across Wales. Finance Manager, Rachel Williams, remembers this time as a period of huge growth with the number of referrals rocketing from 27 to 75 in one year. 2wish upon a star was named in the PRUDiC response in Wales and this was a real turning point for the charity.
In 2021, 2wish upon a star rebranded to simply, 2wish. The team had grown extensively to include fundraisers, support team, finance and admin staff with a total of 21 staff by 2022. 2wish continued to honour every young life with a ‘For our stars’ event to celebrate 10 years of the charity, lighting thousands of tea lights across Wales.
In 2020, Rhian was awarded with an MBE in the Queen’s New Year honours list and later that year, a Pride of Britain Award for her services to bereaved families in Wales.
By the end of 2023, 2wish had provided support to the friends and families of over 1400 children and young people who had died suddenly but were hearing calls from families local to Wales where support like this wasn’t available. Following a bid for funding, in January 2024, 2wish began its expansion into England with the first phase adding support to Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Avon and Somerset. The team quickly grew to 37 members alongside the volunteers and ambassadors. 2wish now operates a hybrid approach with a mixture of staff working in person and online and the central offices continue to be based in Pontyclun in South Wales where the charity was born. At the time of writing 2wish has supported 1,673 families devastated by the loss of their child, resulting in approximately 7,726 individuals going on to access support from the charity.
2wish is still looking to grow and develop with CEO Rhian at the heart of everything it does. The next geographical areas 2wish will cover are being identified, ready to expand their incredible support to more and more families. 2wish hopes to provide support across the whole of England and further – just watch this space!
6 September 2024
