Saturday with Jayne Glynn, co-founder of the Gavin Glynn Foundation
Husband Gavin Jayne John, Is Glynn Founder Co A The Of With Foundation Glynn Along Her
I get up every Saturday at 6.30. Our son Billy is also an early riser so I’ll give him his breakfast in bed before I head out the door.
Every Saturday I meet two friends for a walk - hail, rain or shine. We do about 6km and then grab a coffee in The Fat Fox in Greystones.
Then it’s time to get Billy ready for swimming and John will take him to coding class.
I head to The Gavin Glynn Foundation office around 10.30am.
December is always a very busy month with fundraisers so Saturday mornings are spent packing banners, fliers and goodies for Christmas movie days or Christmas markets.
Lots of primary and Montessori schools do events for us at Christmas which is lovely because it’s kids helping kids.
Usually, there is someone with a personal connection to the foundation in the school - a parent, sibling or teacher who knows a child who has been impacted by childhood cancer.
The foundation is totally funded through charitable means. To date this year, we have helped 53 families to bring their children to Germany and the UK for treatment.
The treatment that our charity helps most with is called proton therapy. Proton therapy is more precise than regular radiotherapy.
The machine can be programmed within millimetres to hit a tumour meaning less damage to the healthy cells around it. We don’t have one of these machines in Ireland.
The average cost of sending a child to Essen or Manchester for this therapy is between €18,000 and €22,000 per family.
The child will usually go for about six weeks in total having had a prior consultation. The treatment itself is covered by the HSE but we provide the flights, accommodation and living expenses.
People often want to meet us to put a face to the name. It is lovely to meet the parents and the kids we have helped, especially if they are doing well.
Meeting the families can be very emotional, especially if the child is there. John is better at these things than I am – sometimes I get a bit teary.
It is lovely to see these kids doing so well and to know that we’ve helped them, even a little bit, along the way.
I’m getting better at meeting people now. It’s ten years since our son Gavin passed away, so it has taken me a while, but it’s really lovely to be able to help.
We just want people not to have to worry about logistics and money so that all they have to do is to pack their bags.
On a Saturday we will go through the flights that are coming up the following week – making sure there are no travel notices and nothing is likely to be delayed.
We have a volunteer team of about 70 in Aer Lingus. They give up their time on their days off to go into work in full uniform to meet the families and escort them through the airport.
When the kids are young the captain will often get involved and let them into the cockpit – it’s a lovely distraction for them.
Sometimes we might meet parents who have lost a child. Often it will be parents who, like us, want to do something in honour of their child and are looking for advice on how to get things started.
John was made redundant not long after Gavin passed away and had some time to do the extensive paperwork that is involved in setting up a charity.
We established the Gavin Glynn Foundation about eight or nine months after Gavin passed away.
There is a huge amount of commitment involved especially for John who also works full time in IT for Tesco but it’s something that we are both very passionate about.
In the evening we might go to an event, or to a cheque presentation at a sports club or golf club.
If we are not doing something with the charity on a Saturday night our favourite thing to do is to get a takeaway from Tiffin in Greystones and to watch a movie.
I might do the ironing and watch endless cheesy Christmas movies – that’s my guilty pleasure at this time of year. I start watching them in about October which utterly baffles my husband.
It doesn’t always happen, but we try to make Sunday our family day and to spend time with our relations. We rest and reset, allowing us to take a good run at the week again.
- Along with her husband John, Jayne Glynn is a co-founder of The Gavin Glynn Foundation which supports children seeking cancer treatment abroad as well as their families by providing financial and logistical assistance.
- Avoca has partnered with the foundation to create a beautiful candle this Christmas, with 100% of proceeds going directly to The Gavin Glynn Foundation. €29.95, available in stores and from avoca.com