Our Story

In February 1996, Shelby was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a particularly aggressive form of cancer. Shelby was just nine months old! On the 27th March 1996 a large tumour was removed from her chest at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.

On 16th November 1996 a charity evening was held at Brands Hatch Place, Kent. Organised with the help of family and close friends, ‘The Friends of Shelby Newstead’ fund was born.

The evening was an outstanding success, and to date ‘FoSN’ have raised in excess of £1,030,000. Since the first fund raising event we have received many generous donations from people from all walks of life and they have always played a major part in the success of our fund raising achievements.

The money raised at the inaugural event was donated to Great Ormond Street’s ‘REACH’ Fund, as a way of helping other innocent children like Shelby, deal with this horrible disease.

Since then, we have followed the Fund’s raison d’etre….’Friends of Shelby Newstead’. We’re here to help children and their families, affected by serious illness. But the important thing is that the people we help are part of the FoSN community and it’s a community that’s growing….thanks to you and so many others.

Shelby’s cancer introduced us to natural treatments that are not so widely publicised outside of orthodox treatments. As a very healthy 27yr old Shelby’s story has a happy ending. However, the sad truth is that there are millions of others who are less fortunate out there, who continue to suffer…. If we can help just a few of them, then it’s well worth the effort.