Our timeline
Annabelle Rose was seven months and twelve days old when she died from type 1 SMA. Her parents, Charlotte and Wayne, turned their loss into a mission to raise awareness and help other families. This is how the foundation grew.
February 2010
Charlotte and Wayne decided to work towards becoming a charity in Annabelle’s memory. A Valentine’s Ball that month raised over £30,000 in under two years for the Jennifer Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy, the biggest SMA charity in the UK at the time.
10 November 2010
Small events, big hearts. The family worked tirelessly, aiming initially to raise £5,000, the amount needed to apply for charitable status.
8 December 2010
After just ten months as a charitable organisation, The Annabelle Rose Foundation for Spinal Muscular Atrophy was awarded charity status, registered charity no. 1139272.
2015
Five years of grants, equipment, short breaks and support for SMA families across the UK.
2018
A milestone marked with the family and community who have helped carry Annabelle’s name.
August 2019
Supporters cycled from Amsterdam to Harlow, raising money for grants and awareness of SMA.
December 2020
A decade of support, and a promise to keep going for as long as families need us.
Charlotte and Wayne lost their first daughter, Annabelle Rose, to SMA. Annabelle had type 1, the most severe form. Every child they had in future would have a 1 in 4 chance of having the same disease.
Since Annabelle’s passing they have been lucky enough to have a healthy girl, Blossom, a healthy boy, Stanley, and in 2017 twins Primrose and Bluebell.
Today the foundation supports people living with SMA and their families with grants for equipment and adaptations, emotional support, short breaks and research funding. We work alongside like minded charities in the SMA community.
See the difference we make