DREAM HOLIDAYS - 17 years of organising respite holidays for families with a CF child.

Dream Holidays was set up to provide holidays for families who endure the trauma of having children suffering from Cystic Fibrosis. Our aims are to help these families enjoy a carefree holiday, taking away the problems of arranging and cost.

Through commitment compassion and generosity of many businesses and charitable trust, over 1000 families have now enjoyed a holiday with us and we have many more families on our waiting list. We feel we are doing a great job helping these people and delight in the knowledge that we are bringing smiles to their faces whilst providing treasured memories for those who may not have their child with them in the years to come.

The Dream Holidays Charity arranges holidays for CF children with no cost to the family. Children are referred to us via their hospital consultants, although it is possible for us to approach a hospital for a child from a particular area if requested to do so. Each family can choose their own holiday - the most popular destinations being holiday camps such as Butlins, Haven or Centre Parks. Most holidays are arranged within the UK. In this way we can help many more families, rather than just
a select few with expensive holidays. We also have to consider that a long plane journey can be extremely tiring for a sick child.

About Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic Fibrosis is a disease caused by an inherited genetic defect and is one of the most common recessive genetic diseases. CF affects approximately 70,000 children and young adults world wide. It occurs in approximately one of every 3,300 births and 1,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. As such it is not contagious and there is no risk of catching CF from another person.

People with CF suffer from chronic lung problems and digestive disorders, it also causes other difficulties such as Cirrhosis of the liver, malnutrition, diabetes and serious lung infections. Now that the digestive problem can be controlled, due to a better understanding of the disease, the lung impairment accounts for more than 90 percent of the disability to the patients.

For many years the cause of CF was a mystery, today, advances in medical study have made it clearer. Humans have a gene encoded in their DNA which makes a special protein called CFTR. If a child inherits a defective copy of this protein from each parent they will have CF. Parents with
a single defective CFTR protein are referred to as carriers. Each time two carriers conceive a child, there is a 25% chance that the child will have CF, a 50% chance that the child will be a carrier and
a 25% chance that the child will be a non-carrier. Despite major improvements in management and diet over the years, Cystic Fibrosis remains a truly horrendous life threatening disease. There is a lifelong impact on the parents, siblings, and close relatives of the CF child, to say nothing of the suffering of the child him or herself.

Fund raising

If you would like to RAISE SOME FUNDS for us at no cost to yourself, please register free at www.thegivingmachine.co.uk. Then mark "Children with Cystic Fibrosis Dream Holidays" as the beneficiary. Every time you purchase anything on the Internet, go through the Giving Machine to get to your favourite suppliers. The suppliers then give us a % of the cost of your purchase!