For the last fourteen weeks, our beautiful brave boy Oliver, who was previously fit and healthy and living life to the full doing every sport imaginable, has been receiving treatment for b Cell Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, a rare but treatable form of child cancer. Throughout his treatment he has been on the Children's Oncology Ward E39 at the Queens Medical Centre, which has been undergoing a complete refurbishment to ensure the children who stay there are as comfortable as possible. Currently they are £500,000 short of the amount needed to complete this process and becoming a leading department in the treatment of children and young people's cancers.

Cancer is a devastating disease in whatever form it takes, striking down the innocent without discrimination. Being told your child has cancer as well as being an incredible shock, is every parent's nightmare and we can't begin to tell you how helpless and isolated it makes you feel. Watching them try to cope with the onslaught of side effects brought on by the chemotherapy, headaches, stomach cramps, mouth ulcers to name a few, or trying to encourage them to eat when even the smell of food makes them feel sick, is heart-breaking. The endless round of blood tests or transfusions and waiting days for results from scans is difficult for an adult to endure, let alone a child entering the emotional upheaval of adolescence.  Some of the children, or indeed babies, have to tolerate this treatment for three or four years, and can be on the ward for two or three weeks at a time away from the normal life, friends and the security of the environment they know. Preventing them giving up and keeping their spirits high is a full time job, requiring boundless energy and resources. Believe me we know, being now champion FIFA players!  

Fortunately Oliver's time here is coming to a successful end, for which we are forever grateful to the consultants, doctors and nurses of Ward E39. However some of the others are much less fortunate. It is with these children in mind that we, his family and friends, together with Oliver, plan to raise as much as we can towards the shortfall in funding. We want every child and young person with cancer to have access to the specialist support they need, in a positive and uplifting environment, to help them fight and beat this dreadful disease.

When fully recovered, Oliver and some of his friends from The Elms School, Long Eaton in Nottingham, are taking part in a sponsored 5k run and we his family and friends are also holding “Oliver's Party,” a celebration of his winning fight, and a fund raising event from which all proceeds will go to the Ward. We are dedicated to making this happen, but we also need your support to do it. We would be grateful for any donations, no matter how small, to help us achieve our target of £15,000.