The Legacy Of Mrs Helen Thompson

When James Thompson's 28 year old wife suddenly died in late 2013, his life and everything he knew came crumbling down. But just months later and spurred on by the memory of his wife, James has been able to help others rebuild their own lives.

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This is Helen and James Thompson.

Their story is unlike any other.

They first met met one another back in school, where they soon started dating.

After the devastating 2004 Tsunami, Helen and James relocated to Khao Lak in Thailand for seven and a half months, where James helped rebuild Tap Tawan village and Helen became a teacher at an orphanage.

On returning to the UK, James continued to use his new found skills by becoming a builder while Helen joined Reading University where she gained a degree in Primary teaching and art.

Helen went on to find employment at Upper Basildon Primary School where her creativity was allowed to flow, resulting in hands-on projects such as the plastic-milk-bottle-igloo-in-the-middle-of-the-classroom project.

In 2012, James proposed to Helen at Reading Festival and on the 3rd August 2013, Helen and James became Mr and Mrs Thompson at their very own 'Wedding Festival'; complete with carnival games, crowd surfing and all of the alcohol.

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And even though it rained on the day and the bride and groom were soaked, the smile never dropped from Helen's face.

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But less than six months later, Helen was admitted to hospital. And tragically, just days before Christmas, Helen passed away from a blood clot on the brain. She was only 28 years old.

Before her tragic passing, Helen had created a Just Giving page to help raise money for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. She had hoped to raise just a modest £200.

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Since the loss of Helen, friends, family and co-workers of both Helen and James have continued her fundraising efforts by organising local gigs, hosting jumble sales, running 10k races, creating and selling t-shirts and wristbands and providing Thai cooking lessons.

Future events are set to include the raffling off of VIP tickets to Reading Festival, shaving heads and playing a charity football match.

To date, a previously unthinkable £29,460.05 has been raised through Helen's Just Giving page with all the money being given to the International Disaster Volunteer charity organisation which is run by Andy Chaggar, who Helen and James first met when they volunteered in Thailand.

In mid-February this year, James flew out to the Philippines to work for IDV.

Since his arrival, he's seen the money raised by Helen's Just Giving page spent on construction tools, a truck and is now being spent on building a classroom and play area in St Augustin School – an educational facility situated in a small farming community near Palo.

Helen spent her life helping others and smiling every step of the way and she would be overjoyed to see that the money raised in her name is having such an impact in an area that is in such need of help.

If you would like to donate to Helen's Just Giving page, you can do so here

You can read more about Helen and James' tragic story here

And you can also see the amazing work that the IDV is doing by visiting their homepage