Wishaw charity king Les Hoey has reflected on 30 years since his fundraising drive began in tragic circumstances.
This week marks three decades since Les’s daughter Shelley was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, at the age of just 12.
As Shelley fought her own battle, Les began to raise cash for Yorkhill Children’s Hospital and the Anthony Nolan Trust before helping kids with life-limiting illnesses meet their heroes.
Speaking this week, Les said: “Shelley went to Switzerland with the school and she was really lethargic.
“My partner Mandy worked up at Cleland Hospital at the time and a nurse came to see Shelley and told us to get her up to Law Hospital.
“Before long we were heading to Yorkhill when we were told she had leukaemia.
“We were there from 7.30am to 11pm. The factory I worked in at the time helped us raise money for the hospital and for Anthony Nolan.
“We had a few charity football games and had the likes of Davie Cooper and Paul McStay come along to help us.
“Shelley had rejected her first bone marrow transplant and we didn’t know if she would pull through. At one point she was down to just five stone.
“Her favourite band at the time was Boyzone. I chanced my arm and got her and her friends the chance to meet the band and that made such a difference to Shelley. That’s when I had the idea to do it for other kids.”
Thankfully Shelley got her transplant and was able to pull through.
For the next few years, Les continued to help children from Lanarkshire and across Scotland meet their heroes from pop stars like Blue and S Club 7 to actors and sports stars.
His hard work was recognised in the 2013 New Year’s Honours List when he was made an MBE for services to charity in Scotland.
“At some points we were in the SECC five or six times per week,” said Les.
“It was amazing to see kids who had been going through chemo or radiotherapy and they would be there singing and dancing until 10pm at night.
“You won’t tell me that it didn’t make a difference to them while they were going through really tough illnesses.
“Meeting The Queen was a real honour when I got the MBE. She was very softly spoken but she just told me to keep doing what I was doing.”
Les did just that and in 2014 he formally set up the DreamMaker Foundation as a charity.
Since then the charity has gone from strength to strength and has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds and granted wishes to dozens of children down the years.
Les added: “We get great support from our volunteers and from the public through our various events such as our charity Ball, Christmas party, our day at Hamilton Races and The Kiltwalk.
“Our Dream Team Angela Cook and Laura Cochrane do the day-to-day running of the charity now from our base in Stewarton Street and they do a fantastic job.
“We struggled during Covid as everyone else did. Thankfully we are over that and getting back to some kind of normality.
“I think Shelley is quite proud of where we have come from and how we are helping.
“She managed to meet Boyzone again 25 years after meeting them for the first time which I think she enjoyed.
“She even buys her own tickets for The Ball!”
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