Several years ago, three individuals from Poland, Canada and Great Britain decided to dedicate their resources and energies to help make a difference to a group of children that had basically been “forgotten” in Poland – terminally-ill children. And so:
Fundacja Dziecieca Fantazja (FDF-“Children’s Fantasies Fulfilled”), headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, was established and became one of the first Foundations to be registered as a charity under the Public Benefit Activity and Voluntary Assistance Act.
For most children, childhood is a unique and very special first stage of life but for those with life threatening illnesses, childhood will be all they ever know, as nature will eventually deny them their fundamental right - to grow into adulthood.
FDF-“Children’s Fantasies Fulfilled” reaches out to those children who are not expected to outlive their teenage years and considers the fantasy of any terminally-ill child from 3-18, either directly from the child or by referral from their family or medical attendants.
There are thousands of terminally-ill children in Poland who have unfulfilled fantasies and wishes. If these could become real, if only for a day, then these memories might forever overshadow their recollection of hospitals, doctors, treatments and tears.
All the children’s fantasies are different but every one is so meaningful to each child - they range from visiting a foreign country, to meeting their hero or a superstar, to watching a music or sports event, to having a special toy or computer, to being “someone else for a day” - or just going to the cinema or seeing the ocean for the very first time.
From making the very first fantasy come true in February 2004 – a trip for children to visit London and Liverpool, England where they wanted to meet the players of Liverpool FC – that became a feature article in Newsweek magazine, the small dedicated team of FDF-“Children’s Fantasies Fulfilled” accomplished over 1,500 fantasies.
A wide variety of the fantasies fulfilled by FDF-“Children’s Fantasies Fulfilled”, have been recorded for television and are featured on a compilation Polish DVD.
The number of fantasies waiting to be fulfilled by FDF-“Children’s Fantasies Fulfilled” is now: 250.
FDF-“Children’s Fantasies Fulfilled”, whose Polish web site (www.f-df.pl) achieves in excess of 6 million annual visits, now fulfills over 200 fantasies and dreams of terminally-ill children in Poland each year and is committed to turning all the eligible children’s imaginations into reality.
Just a few of the thousands of published articles on FDF-“Children’s Fantasies Fulfilled”
