Charity won't give parents of dying girl, 2, £100k in donations

Times

5 days ago

A couple whose nine-year-old son died of cancer and whose daughter is terminally ill claim that a charity refused to hand over £100,000 of donations.
Kyle Morrison was diagnosed in 2019 with an incurable brain cancer. Before his death, supporters donated thousands to pay for potential treatment in the US and 'memory making' experiences for the family.
However, the Covid pandemic meant that the family could not travel before the boy died a year later.
His parents, Craig Evison and Victoria Morrison, went on to have a daughter, Ruby-Rose, now two, but she too is seriously ill with a genetic metabolic disease and is said to be unlikely to live beyond this summer.
The couple launched a GoFundMe page — under the name 'Ruby-Rose's Making Memories Fund' — in an attempt to take her to Disney World.
But when they tried to claim almost £100,000 left from the money donated for their deceased son, the parents were told it would not be paid because Ruby-Rose was not suffering from cancer.
The parents have now launched a High Court claim against Gold Geese, the charity that holds the money, claiming it should fund their daughter's trip to see her beloved Minnie Mouse.
However, officials at the charity have told the court that the money cannot be paid out because the donations were made for Kyle when he was a cancer patient. They argue that the funds can be spent only on medical trials or another child in a 'similar' situation to the couple's son.
The judge, Marc Glover, was told that Kyle was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rare form of cancer, when he was eight.
A significant amount was raised through Golden Geese, which is based in Essex, and Kyle was scheduled to travel to the US for treatment in late 2020. By the time that pandemic restrictions were eased, the boy was too ill and he died in October of that year.
The parents, who also have another son, went on to have their daughter, Ruby-Rose, in 2022, but she was diagnosed with Megdel syndrome, a genetic metabolic condition characterised by high levels of acid in the body, which is usually fatal in early infanthood.
Representing themselves in court, the couple have told the judge that their daughter was unlikely to live beyond this summer.
They said that the money raised for Kyle should now go to their daughter. Morrison told the court: 'We just want the money to make as many memories as we can.'
But William Moffett, a barrister representing the charity, responded that the fund raised for their son could be used only for children with cancer, not other diseases.
The lawyer referred to a contract agreed by the parents stating that if the money were not spent on their son's treatment before he died, it would go to a trial or the cause of a child in a 'similar' position.
Moffett said that it would have been impossible for donors to the son's cause to have meant for the money to benefit Ruby-Rose, as she had not been born at the time that it was pledged.
The barrister reminded the court that 'Gold Geese is a cancer charity, it's on its logo', before adding: 'There are other charities whose objects would include assisting someone with Ruby-Rose's condition, but it wouldn't be proper for Gold Geese to stray outside the illness of child cancer.'
The charity's position is that it was behaving as it was 'legally obliged to do within the ambit of their purpose'.
However, the couple insisted that the contract allows money to be spent for Ruby-Rose's benefit, as they maintained that their daughter fell into the definition of a 'similar' case, as stated in the agreement.
The judge will rule at a later date.