Isla Tansey, a 7-year old girl, started a phenomenal worldwide stone decorating movement in April 2018, called #islastones.
Isla was diagnosed with a rare type of brain tumour, DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma) and sent home with only weeks to live. Isla began decorating stones for her friends to hide and very quickly her community grew to over 65,000 worldwide. Despite experiencing considerable pain, Isla enjoyed to see where each of the stones ended up and to see the smiles of her many followers! Sadly Isla passed away on 10 July 2018.
#Islastones is her legacy and we are proud to be part of it. We hope you can help make it grow too so that we can use it to raise money and awareness of DIPG and childhood cancer, in the hope of supporting other families that will have to endure what Isla’s did. We want them to know they are not alone.
Above all, though, we hope it’s a little reminder of the fun and happiness she brought to so many people’s lives.
• 40 children in the UK diagnosed each year
• 0% survival rate
• Average survival is 9 months
• Palliative treatments cause significant side effects
• DIPG slowly takes a child’s bodily functions whilst leaving the child mentally aware.
Painting Islastones
To join in, simply paint your own stone with any design you like, write “#islastones” and “Photo. Post. Rehide.” on it. Then, leave it somewhere where it can spread a little of the joy that little Isla’s idea has given us.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a natural artist or not, just have fun… Like Isla told us “they’re all perfect…”
If you can fit it on your stone please also write “DIPG” to raise even more awareness.
This short BBC film will tell you more about Isla and this group. Please feel free to share it…
The Islastones Foundation
The islastones foundation was set up by Isla’s family as a charity to fund research into childhood cancer. Research into childhood cancer receives no direct Government funding and relies heavily on those that have previously been affected.
The charity also raises funds to support families impacted by childhood cancer. Isla’s family recognise the importance of being able to make the most of their precious time together and want to help families make ‘forever memories’. #Islastones and the Islastones Foundation is a legacy dedicated to and inspired by Isla. We are proud to be part of it and we hope you can help make it grow.