Hi lovely souls,
I’m reaching out with a very special invitation from the heart. This is a new project for me and so, a first!
In memory of my incredible son, Ben – and as part of our Ben’s Epic Christmas Boxes campaign this year, which delivers joy and Lego-filled magic to children staying in the three hospitals where our Ben was treated for AML and a stem cell transplant – we’re creating something new. Something lasting. Something epic.
Ben’s Epic 100 Days Activity Book will be a beautiful, inclusive, imagination-fuelled A4 sized book filled with 100 creative illustrations – one per page – designed to uplift, distract, and inspire children newly-diagnosed with cancer or undergoing a stem cell transplant, as well as their siblings, during their toughest hospital days.
The Activity Book was named with 100 Days in the title, because 100 days is the magic number of days it generally takes for the patient to reach engraftment when the donor cells are beginning to work in their body and recovery is on the way.
The concept is simple:
I have a list of 100 imaginative illustration ideas – already prepared – each one, a short, inspiring sentence designed to spark creativity and imagination during long days in hospital. Many of these were actually suggested by Ben when he was going through treatment himself and he was very mindful of the way chemotherapy made him feel, but he loved the idea of an activity book to provide some creative entertainment during some very dull days.
I’m looking for 100 illustrators to each take on just ONE of these ideas — donating your creativity and heart to design a single black-and-white / colour illustration (think of a coloring page, puzzle, or doodle adventure). Some of these illustrations will be full page and some will be for borders only and will be for children between the ages of about 5 and 14 years.
The only request I have, is that your assigned brief is noted somewhere on the page or that you leave space available at the top for me to place it on the page — to guide and inspire the child engaging with your artwork, ie ‘Spend the day creating a den in your room.’
No payment. Just passion, community, kindness and legacy.
In return, your name (and website or social handle, if you’d like) will be proudly listed at the back of the book as a contributor — a permanent thank you for being part of something so meaningful that will help bring a little sparkle of imagination during uncertain times for children with cancer and life-limiting illness and their siblings.
How to submit: You can send your finished illustration to me in high quality JPG / TIFF in CMYK format. I’ll take care of compiling and formatting everything into a professionally printed book.
Fundraising is ongoing for #BensEpicChristmasBoxes as usual this year and I hope to raise enough outside of the sum for the boxes by close of Season 7 in December, to be able to complete the first print run for the Ben’s Epic 100 Days Activity Books in the Spring of 2026. This still means we need epic donations to surpass the figure of £6,000 for the Lego boxes. We’ve actually changed our target to encompass everything … and our overall target now stands at £7,000.
This book will be a gift to the three hospitals where Ben was treated, who are already eagerly awaiting the books. They’ll be included in every Epic Christmas Box — and available year-round for newly-diagnosed children and their siblings.
Would you be willing to say ‘yes’ to one page?
Your art, your kindness, your name — helping create something beautiful for kids who need it most. Please get in touch with me at contact@bensepicjourney.org for all the details!
You can find out more about Ben’s and our family’s story at www.bensepicjourney.org and we’ve just recently set up the fundraiser for this year’s Ben’s Epic Christmas Boxes Campaign here at https://gogetfunding.com/bens-epic-christmas-boxes-2025-season-7-fundraising-full-steam-ahead/. If you are able to share this post or our fundraiser or if you are able to make a donation, that would also be amazing, as we really are hoping to raise more for the books to be created and printed this year outside of the £6,000 we hope to raise for Ben’s Epic Christmas Boxes themselves!
Please get in touch if you’d like to be part of this special and rather epic creation!
Forgot to mention that the deadline is the end of this year so I can bring the book together in the early part of the New Year and have it printed in the Spring of 2026!
With deep gratitude,
Ginny Walker