Fundraiser for sick Bicester teen and mum with cancer

Phoebe Jones, 16, from Bicester, fell ill in August 2022 while in Year 8 at Whitelands Academy.

She suffers from Functional Neurological Disorder, Myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue, rumination and dysmotility. As a result she has lost weight and gets tired easily.

As a result of her multiple ailments, she has not been well enough to regularly attend school, where she should be sitting her GCSE’s this year.

Her mother, Emma Jones, 45, also recently underwent a single mastectomy and breast reconstruction after being diagnosed with cancer. She now faces chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

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Claire Barker, 43, who launched the fundraise and whose son, Leo is in the same year as Phoebe, met Emma at a baby group 15 years ago.

She hopes to raise £11,000 for an electric wheelchair and stairlift, as Phoebe has been unable to access her home for over a year while not receiving treatment at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Mrs Barker said Phoebe used to have a wheelchair, but it has been broken and unusable for several month and NHS and charity waiting lists for a new one closed because they are too long.

She said: “Phoebe has lost an awful lot of her ability to manually push herself around without feeling really unwell and with Emma undergoing therapy she also doesn’t have the strength to push her around.

“I think Emma’s diagnosis changed everyone’s view and they came to the realisation that they needed help, so we set up a Go Fund Me, raising more than half in 48 hours.

“It would be lovely to give Phoebe a bit more of that freedom back. The money could make such a huge difference to their quality of life and take a massive weight of the families minds and shoulders.”

A quiz night and raffle held at The Nightingale raise almost £1,500. Around £1,000 of tickets were sold and £470 was made on entries.

She said: “We managed to sell out the venue to the point that we were heaving to bring tables and chares in from the garden to fit everybody inside.”

She was encouraged by her 12-year-old daughter Rosie to start exploring more fundraising options.

She added: “Rosie kept saying we needed to do something to help because I think it’s been really difficult for everybody to witness a family suffer and not being able to do anything.”